II. Deforestation and Poverty Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries: LULUCF Reducing emissions from deforestation is imperative in stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of GHGs. Global forests are a fundamental element of the carbon cycle. Forests maintain water quality by retaining water in soils and preventing erosion and sedimentation. Forests hold significant socio-economic value. It is estimated that in India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Thailand alone there 600 million people who depend on forests for food and medicine . Currently, tropical deforestation accounts for approximately twenty percent of total global emissions of carbon dioxide . Between 1850 and 2000, approximately half of the total emissions from land-use change were from tropical lands; if current rates of deforestation continue, the emissions from tropical lands could equal almost double that amount . Efforts to create effective international agreements to protect tropical forests—beginning in 1992 at the UNCED (Rio) and ongoing through the UN Forum on Forests—have largely failed. It is imperative we protect forests for their carbon storage potential. Our greatest opportunity to address the problem of tropical deforestation and its many negative impacts lies under the UNFCCC. It is essential that we urgently stop tropical deforestation in order to achieve carbon neutrality. Poverty and the South/North divide Tropical deforestation cannot be remedied without addressing local needs and poverty in developing countries. We must consider the economic realities of tropical forested countries, which amounts to respecting the sovereign right of states to develop and use their resources. To resolve this tension it is imperative that we understand local needs and learn from the successes of countries that are working to address problems of deforestation and poor land use. Economic incentives and market-based mechanisms that value environmental services and promote sustainable management of forests should also be pursued. Solutions that benefit local communities and indigenous people by creating sustainable jobs and protecting resources for sustenance and sustainable use need to be created. It is critical that property rights be secured for landless and migrant people through local legal frameworks. Assistance should be provided immediately in accessing and developing technology (including satellite imagery equipment), technical knowledge, and capacity to monitor and inventory domestic land use and land use change. Due to considerable variation and diversity in cultures, institutions, economics, politics, and natural environments, approaches should be responsive to local needs. We have identified the following methods of reducing emissions from deforestation that adhere to these differences: • Support the creation of a fund, under the UNFCCC, to reduce emissions from deforestation through “forest management” and “climate regulation” grants • Support the proposal for “positive incentives for developing countries that voluntarily reduce their GHG emissions from deforestation” • Demand that governments in the North listen to the needs of forested developing countries and provide the technical and financial assistance they require • Urge developing countries to be relentless in their efforts to obtain from the North the financial and technical assistance necessary to address poverty, stop deforestation, and promote sustainable land management Market based mechanisms are needed to manipulate economic incentives to favor the conservation of forests and reduce Carbon emissions. The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in Bolivia is a particularly encouraging example of this. The Bolivian government along with a Bolivian conservation association (FAN), The Nature Conservancy, and three energy companies (American Electric Power, Pacificorp, and BP Amoco) worked together to eliminate the threats of timber harvesting and deforestation. By terminating logging rights and incorporating lands into a national park in 1997, the project will reduce emissions by 4.5 trillion tons of carbon that would have otherwise been emitted had logging been allowed to continue. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, the project fosters sustainable development in a local community and preserves an area that is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its rich biological diversity . Plantations are Not Forests Currently, only twelve percent of the world’s remaining forests are protected . The conservation and sustainable management of existing forests is imperative to reducing carbon emissions from forests and must be the priority in discussions of carbon forest sequestration. A balance must be reached between use of forests for environmental services, to meet the needs of local communities, and for commercial use. Efforts to conserve and sustainably manage forests through carbon sequestration must be compliment and reinforce the Convention on Biological Diversity. While reforestation has an important role to play in sequestering carbon, tree plantations are not forests. This is of primary concern because monoculture plantations have significantly reduced genetic diversity. The robustness of the forest gene pool determines the health and resilience of forest ecosystems. Plantations are more vulnerable to blight and disease, as well as more susceptible to extreme weather, and therefore, their carbon uptake potential is compromised. Genetically modified forests should not be promoted under carbon markets. Carbon sequestration under the Clean Development Mechanism works against the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Across the globe, youth can join the fight to protect our natural forests. By demanding post-consumer recycled products from business and industry we can encourage sustainability concepts like reusing and recycling our natural resources. Youth play a critical role in raising awareness about why deforestation occurs, thereby making people care about forests and engaging them in action. We must continue to stress that communities and governments will continue to cut down forests if timber sale is their only means of earning an income. As a result, youth need to organize locally and encourage our own governments to preserve forests and make responsible management a priority. ---Footnotes
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Deforestation and Poverty |