During the weeks leading up to the Nairobi Climate negotiations the World Bank (WB) released a new report, At Loggerheads?Agricultural Expansion, Poverty Reduction, and Envirionment in the Tropical Forests. This report argues that the global value of Carbon storage in existing forests is greater than the economic value of converting them to other uses such as livestock pasture or timber. Katherine Sierra, vice president of sustainable development at the World Bank, stated that “now is the time to reduce pressures on tropical forests through a comprehensive framework that integrates sustainable forest management into the global strategy for mitigating climate change and preserving biodiversity.”
As if it wasn’t enough that deforestation threatens 800,000 people who live in or around vulnerable forests or woodlands, endangers the majority of the worlds remaining terrestrial biodiversity, and degrades and destroys the valuable ecosystems that provide a myriad of essential environmental services, deforestation is a major source of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases contributing to our changing climate.
Today tropical deforestation accounts for approximately 20% of total global emissions of carbon dioxide (3.8 B tons per year), almost twice as much as does global road transportation. Since the 1950’s, 5% of tropical forests have been lost per decade. In just the past five years, over 50 million hectares of tropical forest (about the size of France) have been lost.
At the UN Climate Conference in Montreal last year (2005) Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea brought forward a proposal, on behalf of the Rainforest Nations, to address the issue of emissions from deforestation. The proposal, calling for positive financial incentives for developing countries that voluntarily reduce their emissions from deforestation, initiated a two-year process of dialogue and information gathering. The Nairobi negotiations, marking the halfway point in this process, will be crucial in determining the nature of the final outcomes at the next Conference of Parties.
This past August, upon the request of the UNFCCC secretariat, Parties, Intergovernmental Organizations, Non-governmental Organizations, and technical experts met in Rome to share experiences and consider relevant aspects, including scientific, socio-economic, technical and methodological issues, relating to reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries. The report of this meeting is the foundation for current SBSTA discussions on deforestation.
Earlier this week the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice discussed the issue of emissions reductions from deforestation in developing countries. Much of the talks centered on the need for another workshop with views differing as to what should be the focus of such a session. Most countries emphasized the need to develop policy and “operationalize” the technical and scientific issues that have been addressed so far. Bangladesh, on behalf of Less Developed Countries (LDCs) emphasized the need for financial incentives. The Congo on behalf of the African Group stressed the urgent need of funding for capacity building and expressed their preference for voluntary as well as compulsory funding. Japan reminded parties that the UN Framework on Forests had established a global objective of achieving sustainable management of forests by 2015 and that long-term perspectives were necessary to address emissions from deforestation. The United States stressed the need to improve inventories, further elaborate methodology, better define terms of reference, collect more data, and improve data submissions from developing countries before being able to begin talking about policy options. Brazil responded to the US by acknowledging the need to elaborate terms of reference while emphasizing the importance of focusing on policy, “we must know where we are going and what we need to achieve before we delve into scientific aspects.”
A contact group will be meeting today with results expected by early next week during the higher-level ministerial segment.
When members of the North American Youth Delegation met with the US delegation Dr. Harlan Watson, Head of the US Delegation, made it clear that new funds to prevent deforestation were not an option and emphasized the unilateral efforts already being taken by the US. While such efforts, to, for example, exchange debt relief for forest conservation activities under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, are obviously appreciated and significant they are clearly not sufficient to address this global problem on their own. The complexity, magnitude, and urgency of deforestation and climate change necessitate concerted international solutions. If we are to adequately address these problems we must take action now. The effectiveness of International regimes, like the UNFCCC, depends entirely on the will and effort of their member parties. As the global economic superpower the US has the responsibility and ability to lead a strong effort in this regard. If the US continues to disregard international bodies and neglect its responsibility as the leading contributor to global green house emissions it will be at the detriment of us all, but especially our host continent: Africa.
If efforts to secure funding for voluntary reductions in deforestation, as has also been proposed by Brazil, do not advance in SBSTA we can expect that reductions in emissions from deforestation will play a more prominent role in ongoing negotiations of post 2012 commitments, under the Kyoto Protocol, without US.
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