Forest clearcut in IndonesiaThe representatives of more than 100 countries attending December’s U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, finally focused on the important role tropical forests play in global warming.
Developed countries have pledged almost $300 million to help forest-rich developing countries prepare for their new roles and responsibilities in the post Kyoto international climate-change agreement set to start after 2012.
Deforestation, especially in the tropics, has been a global problem for decades, with serious implications for the livelihoods of poor people living in the forests as well as global biodiversity.
Despite the fact that deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, tropical forests have thus far been excluded from international climate agreements, including the Kyoto Protocol.
In Bali, an agreement about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD) was reached to include the reduction of tropical deforestation as part of the solution to climate change. Although the details are still being worked out, the new agreement will give significant roles and responsibilities to developing countries, especially those with large forest areas such as Indonesia and Brazil.
The recognition by developed countries of the need for immediate funding to developing countries to strengthen forest governance - and the fact that developing countries must also share responsibility to fight climate change - is an important development. It has led to the launch of the World Bank’s new Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, which was partly shaped with input from WRI and will compensate developing countries for reducing CO2 emissions related to maintenance of their forests.
Indonesia, for example, has already carried out a forest governance assessment, with the assistance of WRI, the World Bank, and other organizations. Indonesia’s initiative will serve as an example for the establishment of forest-carbon programs in other developing countries.
Movement like this must happen now, because only by immediately addressing current forest governance problems - such as the need for better law enforcement, distribution of benefits, and access to forest lands - will countries be prepared for a carbon-constrained future.
This article appeared originally at Mongabay.com
Related Links
- WRI policy brief: REDD Flags: What We Need to Know about the Options
- WRI’s forest work
Fred Stolle, Senior Associate IIIfstolle@wri.org+1 (202) 729-7694Fred Stolle is program manager for WRI’s Forest Landscape Objective, working on forest governance, forest changes, and their impacts on climate change, and biofuels issues in Southeast Asia, especiall
3 Comments
Dear Sir/madam. Greetings to
Dear Sir/madam.
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
I am Mr. Pradeep Kumar Chedalavada, from Andhra Pradesh state, India.
I found your mail id online.
I did my bachelors in Fisheries Zoology and Chemistry and Masters in Ecology and Environment, and I also did another Bachelors’ in Education
I’ve been working as a consultant for an environmental consultancy,. We generally deal the projects like, pollution control (air and water), Real estate, highway projects, Sponge iron, Para boiled rice mills, steel-rerolling mills etc. My work mostly related with the EIA documentation and analysis of samples.
Earlier I’ve worked in a state government project namely ‘Cloud seeding project’, by which the precipitation rate of rainfall can be increased, which is a proven technology, In that project I’ve worked as a Research Scholar. I have also worked in a Proposed Hydro Electric Power Project, carried out Rapid EIA studies in the proposed location. In addition I’ve 5+ years of teaching experience teaching, science, biology, environmental science and Zoology, in various schools and colleges
This is all about my education and professional experience.
Sir now I have some dream projects in my mind; I belong to one of the coastal village called Narsapur in West Godavari District of Andhra pradesh. Having full of natural resources, but due to lack of scientific knowledge, farmers are facing many problems. Say for example, white spot disease in Shrimp industry, Red rot diseases in Sugarcane are the major problems of our area. Paddy is the major crop in our district, Government organizations are supporting the paddy farmers, but they are not taking care of the farmers of other sectors.
The biodiversity duty needs to be more clearly set within the wider framework of sustainable development. This should not devalue the aims of the strategy, but should help local authorities balance better social, economic and environmental priorities. My viewpoint is the education system must be fully utilized to increase the public knowledge of biodiversity and sustainable development issues. This has to be achieved not just in schools, but also in community education projects and through links with businesses. The fostering of public biodiversity awareness is key to the success of the strategy; and the steps required to achieve this need to be clearly defined and adequate resources allocated. The success of our biodiversity plans can only be achieved through engaging the public and encouraging participation and ‘ownership’. The strategy needs to be written in a manner that is accessible to all, with the aims, objectives and the plan of action stated in straightforward terms. The health, quality of life and economic benefits of preserving a rich biological diversity need to be at the heart of the sustainable development message delivered to all communities. In this connection we’ve formed some local communities as well.
We have a group of technical people who have knowledge in their respective areas. We are ready to travel throught the district, and would like to give proper guidance to the needy farmers, and we want to associate with them to get more productivity. This is our aim, and we have done lot of fieldwork in this regard. We also requested some of the laboratories to conduct the soil, water and biological tests for nominal rates. We have contacted many government and NGO organizations for financial support, but we dint’ get any positive response so far
Aquaculture waste products are the one the vital problems in this area, we have more than 400 shrimp hatcheries in the coastal belt of our state, most of them are marine water prawn (Penaeus monodon) production centers. Nearly 30 villages in and around Narsapur are having aquaculture ponds. The drain water coming out from the shrimp tanks, and the waste coming out during the time of processing are the major environmental problems here,. The farmers left over the waste on the road and it creates nuisance, causes diseases, and sometimes accidents also. We want to concentrate on this very much. For the proper disposal of wastewater and the biological wastes. And most importantly, Snail shells are the another major problem here. The farmers left over large heaps of snail shells over the roadside, after the snail is generally used as a food for the aquaculture industry. Though this creates lot of environmental pollution and lot of ecological imbalance, the farmers are not leaving this practice. Because of its availability and cheap price.
Drinking water is the one of the major problem in this area. Having surrounded with huge amount of water, but not even a single drop will not be useful for drinking purpose. Around 20-25 village people are facing this salt-water problem. Earlier with the help of the some of the Churches, and sponsors we’ve organized a Water mission programme, by which we used to supply 5 litres of water to each family in a couple of villages. Our pilot project was success, but it was end up due to lack of funds. One more thing we have to consider here are the road facilities to these villages is not that good.
There are plenty scope for eco tourism is there in our native place. But due to lack of proper promotion from the Government or the NGO’s this aspect is completely in down trend.
We would like to concentrate more and more on the following fields to bring the ecological balance and social awareness:
· Environmental restoration
· Organic farming
· Rural development
· Environmental Education
· Health and Hygiene
· Renewable energy
· Arts and culture
· Rural water supply
· Social equality and communal harmony
Most of the people in our area are small-scale farmers, they generally have ½ to 4 acres of agriculture land, they bring loans and run their activities, floods and cyclones are one of the major problems, here in our coastal zone. In addition the diseases, crop reduction are the other problems. Due to this A large number of farmers have committed to suicide from our district 5 years ago,. The suicides were more in the district of Ananthapur, a complete dry district.
To avoid these kind of situations the paddy farmers are changing their, agriculture land in to fish or prawn tanks, by doing this some times they may get good crops, The loss or profit are very huge. But when the yield rate falls, the farmers will definitely face the financial problems, they immediately could not go for the agriculture again as their fields not suitable for that.
These are the few general problems that people of many communities in our region are facing, in addition there are also some socio economic problems and etc are always there, We as a team would like to stand with the people, who are desperately looking for some scientific, environmental, socio economic suggestions, and want to work with the people who are really protecting the nature by their sustainable methods of agricultural practices,. So we are looking to the world, to get some funding support to penetrate more and more into the grass roots to solve the environmental problems and we’ll definitely succeed by eradicating the problem and find a good solution for the well being of the nature and society.
We request you to kindly help us in this regard
Yours Sincerely
Mr. Pradeep Kumar. Ch.
M.Sc (Ecology and Environment), B.Ed.,
11-6-49/B, Gandhi nagar-2, Narsapur-534 275
West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Contact No: +91- 9866363968/+91-9247778265.
My e-mail ids: cpradeep9@gmail.com, pradeep276829@yahoo.com
Fred - I have been so
Fred -
I have been so tired, for so long, of hearing about green house gas emissions as, apparently, the only cause of climate change. Thank-you for noting the importance of deforestation.
Now, is anyone going to notice that increasing solar heating in the form of constructing solar thermal mass [highways, parking lots, cities in general, etc] also plays a significant role in climate change?
Good piece, Fred
Just a well done and much appreciated post. I hope folks get to see this and take it to heart. Living now in the beautiful forests of western NC where we have seen complete destruction and a rebirth of the forests here. So, there is some hope and its starts with good information and effective communication.