Forest Congress sends message to Copenhagen

By: Neil Marks on October 23rd, 2009

Representatives of 160 countries meeting in Buenos Aires for the World Forestry Congress have called on negotiators of a new global climate change deal to include a mechanism to reward countries which keep forests standing.

The call came as countries which face the greatest loss of forest – Brazil and Indonesia – once more highlighted their plight. Top representatives of the two countries said forests are not only important to prevent further climate change. Millions of people also rely on them for their livelihoods.

At the Congress, Norway pledged to continue making large financial contributions to help countries prepare to benefit from a mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation, or what is called REDD.

Trond Gabrielsem, a representative of the Norwegian government said that Norway has committed US$500 million per year over the coming years.

A REDD mechanism looks likely to be decided upon at the upcoming Copenhagen climate change summit in December.

Under REDD, rich countries, whose industries are blamed for emitting harmful greenhouse gases which destroy the environment, agree to pay poor countries if they manage to reduce damage to their forests and therefore increase storage of harmful greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. The money could be paid through bilateral schemes between governments or through a carbon trading system.

In a statement, the Congress said it supports a REDD mechanism, including enhanced incentives for conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks in developing countries.

Forests are more than carbon, the Congress noted. Rather, they harbour two thirds of all land based plants and animals and generate beneficial services such as water, food and over 5,000 commercial forest products.

Tiina Vahenen, a senior officer at the UN REDD Secretariat, pointed out that the earth’s four billion hectares of forest store 633 billion giga-tons of carbon. This means that forests store more carbon than the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

Forests play an important role because they absorb carbon dioxide, one of the harmful greenhouse gases that cause global climate change. However, if they are cut down, that carbon goes into the atmosphere, adding to already harmful levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Vahenen said 13 million hectares of forests are lost every year, sending an estimated 17.4 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Putting that into perspective, she said that exceeds the total amount of carbon released by either the United States or China, and is higher than total emissions from the global transport sector.

She said a REDD mechanism would recognise the role of forests in preventing further climate change, and called on countries to make their voices heard at Copenhagen. “REDD is a big economic development and environment opportunity and we cannot afford to lose the opportunity” she said.

Vahenen quoted research which shows that carbon trading increased from US$11 billion in 2005 to a whopping $125 billion in 2008.

Thais Linhares Jevanal, the director the Brazilian Forest Agency indicated that if a REDD mechanism comes into place, the money will have to be assured.

She said the costs of compensating those who profit from destroying the forest are high, and therefore any REDD scheme will have to adequately make up for this lost income (known as the opportunity cost).

Brazil is in a desperate race against time to save the Amazon rainforest, which has been prone to illegal logging and heavy deforestation. “The only thing that can make the forest sustainable is giving forests the value forests have” she said.

Indonesia faces a similar crisis. Forty percent of the forests existing in 1950 were cleared in the following 50 years. Forest cover fell from 162 million hectares to 98 million hectares, according to Global Forest Watch.

Retno Maryano of Indonesia´s Centre for Social and Economic Research on Forest Management said the potential for financial input under REDD is huge, and whatever funds come under REDD will have to compensate for the money that will be forgone in forest exploitation to protect the forest.