I have been, frankly, confused and ignorant on the topic of deforestation. I have heard that we need to save the Amazon rainforest, and know that forests are being wiped out for palm oil, but that's about the limit of my knowledge. So I attended a conference organized by the Innovation Forum to find out what the problem is and what can be done about it.
Here are 10 interesting points I picked up:
1. According to NASA, in 650,000 years the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere never rose above 300 parts per million, until 1950. Since then it has risen steadily to over 400 parts per million, and continues to rise. We need trees to consume carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, so deforestation is part of the problem, and reforestation is part of the solution. According to the United Nations, approximately 13 million hectares of forests continue to be lost each year, contributing up to 20 per cent of annual global greenhouse gas levels.
One person who has done quite a bit of research into the issue is Stephen Rumsey, Chairman of Permian Global, an investment company focused on climate mitigation through forest protection and recovery. "Emissions from human destruction of forests have been three times that of burning fossil fuels," says Rumsey. "If forests could recover a quarter of the biomass that they have lost that would reduce atmospheric CO2 from 400 parts per million to 280 parts per million." Forest recovery is the cheapest and most realistic solution to climate change, he argues.
2. Deforestation has caused at least two other major problems: it has displaced indigenous people, and it has interfered with biodiversity. It is an important social issue, as well as an environmental one.
3. The main cause of deforestation is agriculture. According to NASA, the problem is increasing due to large-scale commercial agricultural activities, including cattle ranching and soybean production in the Amazon and palm tree plantations in Indonesia. A vast quantity of smallholders around the world are also contributing to deforestation in favor of agriculture.
4. There is a debate over the definitions of deforestation, zero deforestation, and zero net deforestation. Deforestation means conversion of natural forest to agriculture or timber farming, but selective logging is important for communities and shouldn't be considered deforestation, says Tobias Webb, CEO and founder of the Innovation Forum. "While 'zero deforestation' refers to the prevention of any forest clearance, 'zero net deforestation' refers to the replacement of logged forest with an equivalent area of new forest through replanting," he writes. "However, it is difficult to ensure that the area that is replanted is equivalent to the area that is logged, and even more difficult to ensure that no environmental impacts or losses in biodiversity are incurred in the process. This makes 'zero net deforestation' a much more complex and unreliable strategy."
5. Deforestation is considered a solvable problem, and much progress has been made. There has been lots of activity by non-governmental organizations to raise awareness and stop deforestation, for example in the Amazon. There are roundtables, forums, protocols, supply chain certifications, and tools available to tackle the deforestation problem. For example, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which includes plantation companies, processors and traders, consumer goods manufacturers and retailers of palm oil products, financial institutions, environmental NGOs and social NGOs, has 2,145 members, and has certified 12.27 million tonnes, or 18% of global palm oil, as sustainable. 90% of palm oil trading companies have made commitments to no deforestation (see www.mongabay.com for statistics and charts on this).
6. Some multinational corporations are taking the lead by committing to zero deforestation, and are pressuring governments for regulation and enforcement. Tobias Webb tells corporations "there's a three-stage process to get started. Step one is internal risk mapping and benchmarking that with NGOs. Step two is to deliver on transparency (using technology) and show the world the challenges, and progress as implementation begins to happen. Step three is to work with other companies to help raise the bar in the supply chain and lobby for others to do the same and governments to support. Step four will likely be to revisit and revise targets and engage in restoration, but for many that comes much later."
7. In the US, the Clean Water Act in the 1970s started the cleanup of the logging industry and attention on sustainable forestry. More recently, public outcry over deforestation from palm oil and other farming has brought corporations to come together and commit to better resource management. In September 2014, more than 30 countries and 30 corporations signed the New York Declaration on Forests at the United Nations, calling for halving deforestation by 2020 and ending it by 2030. The declaration says: "actions to combat deforestation and speed up the restoration of degraded lands will contribute to economic growth, poverty reduction and greater food security as well as help communities adapt to climate change and secure the rights and livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities."
Also last September, four major palm oil companies recommitted to zero deforestation in their supply chains and joined with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce, Kadin, to demand that the Indonesian government put an end to deforestation. And this year the UN will include a goal on forests in the new Sustainable Development Goals to be launched in September. Goal 15 reads "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss."
8. The UN developed a framework called REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), including through conservation, the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Tropical forest countries are being urged to present priority actions for deforestation and forest restoration. Advanced economies are being urged to include financial incentives for REDD+ in their post- 2020 climate change commitments. The World Resources Institute created "Global Forest Watch," a satellite mapping application and information center on solutions to deforestation. Greenpeace and The Forest Trust (TFT) developed the High Carbon Stock Approach Toolkit, a methodology that can distinguish viable forest areas from degraded areas that have lower carbon and biodiversity values. Other NGOs such as the Rainforest Alliance and the World Wildlife Fund offer valuable resources, and www.mongabay.com has a deforestation tracker, called the Global Forest Disturbance Alert System.
9. Governments around the world need to do more given that an estimated half of deforestation is done illegally. Smallholders and migrants, driven by poverty, are responsible for a lot deforestation; thinking about deforestation needs to take into account wider issues including poverty, growing population, and water scarcity.
10. As in the food arena, there is a debate in forestry about genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Some scientists and forestry professionals advocate for breeding trees that resist disease, for example, or offer greater productivity (faster growth of more trees in smaller areas). Hard-line activists are concerned about "gene pollution," and consider that any human engineering activity can cause unexpected outcomes, particularly with regard to biodiversity.
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