SOLUTIONS
Ending Deforestation,
A Primary Agent of Climate Destruction
Of all forms of habitat destruction, the most consequential is deforestation. Most species of plants and animals on Earth live in rainforests. Rainforests constitute an essential cooling band around the planet’s equator. Twice as much carbon is stored in these trees as in the whole of the Earth’s atmosphere. Poor countries (see above figure) continue to slash and burn these irreplaceable forests at huge rates: an area equivalent to the U.K. is destroyed every year. Carbon emissions from 5 years of this deforestation exceed that from all of aviation history up till 2027.
Since up to a quarter of carbon emissions come from deforestation, the fastest, cheapest way to reduce them is to protect forests in Brazil, Indonesia, Congo etc. This does not necessitate developing any new technology. It requires only political will, enforcement and incentives to ensure that forests are more valuable when left standing. At present, the protection of standing forests remains outside the Kyoto Protocol and its carbon markets. The IPCC [2007] points to it as the best hope to avoid a catastrophic climate breakdown.
The REDD initiative (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries) is a pay-and-preserve scheme for forests. It was launched in 2005 by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Countries are paid to prevent deforestation, while funding comes from industrialized countries seeking to meet their emissions commitments under Kyoto. Policymakers and environmentalists value this initiative because it fights climate change at low cost, improves living standards for poor people, safeguards biodiversity and preserves complex ecosystems [1]. REDD was the major positive proposal agreed at the UN Climate Conference in Bali, Indonesia (December, 2007).
1. Gullison, et al. [2007] Tropical Forests and Climate Policy Science