The Wilderness Society has spotted a glaring omission in negotiating text for the Copenhagen Climate Change agreement – protecting the world’s forests has gone missing!
More than 25% of annual global emissions come from the clearing, logging and disturbance of forests. It’s simple; we can not secure a safe climate without protecting the world’s forests.
It’s a no-brainer that the next climate deal needs to protect the world’s forests. We urgently need to tackle the enormous carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. More than 25% of annual global emissions come from the clearing, logging and disturbance of forests. It’s simple; we can not secure a safe climate without protecting the world’s forests.
The remaining intact tropical forests of developing countries including the forests of the Amazon, the Congo, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea will be affected by the outcomes of the next climate deal. A major concern is that the industrial logging industry is working to heavily influence the climate deal to make sure it does not protect the world’s forests.
If we do nothing, the next climate deal could end up as a vehicle not to protect forests, but to incentivise industrial logging and the conversion of natural forest to plantations, through payments from polluters for carbon credits".
The warped logic being presented by the logging industry is that by providing incentives for introducing so called Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) into intact natural forests, we can make sure those forests are logged a little nicer, so they emit less carbon pollution than totally go-for-broke logging!
Unfortunately, we all know that ‘SFM’ looks like a clear-fell coupe in Tasmania or Victoria.. We will see the ugly logging that is happening in Australia take place in the world’s last intact forests, destroying not just huge carbon banks but the home of endangered species like orangutans. This type of logging not only causes massive amounts of carbon pollution it also damages wildlife habitat and water availability.
We can not let this climate and biodiversity disaster happen.
The Wilderness Society’s International Forests and Climate campaigners have been meeting with the Australian Government and their negotiating team to try to convince them of the urgent need to protect the world’s forests. We have asked them to table a proposal at the upcoming climate talks in August that ask for the inclusion of the protection of forests in the next global climate deal.
To date, Australia has claimed to be a champion of protecting forests for climate change – especially in Indonesia and PNG. Our international climate team will be attending the next climate talks in August to keep a watching eye on the negotiating team and to ensure that Australia lives up to its claims and promises.
We’re also working to convince other countries, including Norway who is planning to contribute large sums of money to reducing carbon pollution from destroying forests in developing countries, to support a climate deal that protect the world’s forests.
We are educating all countries about the multiple benefits of forest protection including securing indigenous peoples’ rights and interests.
The fate of Australia’s precious forests is also tied to the outcome of the climate negotiations. The current rules of the Kyoto protocol are skewed to understate forest emissions from logging in Australia. Under the Kyoto protocol the climate impact of forestry operations doesn’t have to be accounted for, so Australia doesn’t count the massive amount of carbon emissions caused by the logging, clearing and burning of our forests.
All forests are important in fighting climate change, so of course we are pushing for a radical upgrade of the treatment of forests in developed and developin countries in the new climate agreement.
With your support we will ensure the protection of the world’s forests and help secure a safe climate for our future.
Virginia Young
International Forests and Climate Campaign
