Mixed news about the Amazon Rainforest

We have both good and bad news about the Amazon Rainforest this week.

Let's start with the good news: The World Bank approved last Thursday $1.3 billion loan to help Brazil's environmental management and climate change efforts, with a focus on fighting deterioration of the Amazon rain forest and renewable energy sources.

The World Bank told Reuters that "the loan will support Brazil's ongoing efforts to improve its environmental management system and integrate sustainability concerns in the development agenda of key sectors such as forest management, water and renewable energy."

The loan is going to be disbursed in two parts: a first tranche of $800 million that will be provided immediately and a second tranche of $500 million upon fulfillment of the projects goals.

This loan is provided despite appeals of several Brazilian organizations and social networks to the World Bank to postpone the decision on the loan. Their argue was that prior loans have not adequately addressed environmental concerns and that this loan has the potential to continue this trend.

Well, I hope these groups are wrong, but at the same time I wish their concerns will be taken seriously as it seems the money is needed to be allocated in the best way possible given the other news about the implications of drought on the Amazon rain forest.

On the same day (last Thursday) a new study was published in the journal Science. This 30-year study, a global collaboration between more than 40 institutions, has found that the Amazon rain forest is surprisingly sensitive to drought and even a moderate drought can cause it to release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. You can read further details about this study about it on the Science Daily's report.

We'll keep following and reporting on the status of the Amazon Rainforest, hoping to have more and more good news and less and less bad news.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Preserving forests to fight global warming

Interesting news from Bali, Indonesia. The World Bank launched plans for a US$300 million fund to fend off global warming by preserving forests in developing countries.

The logic is very simple explained Stephanie Meeks, acting CEO and President of The Nature Conservancy: " We’ll never solve the climate challenge unless we address the loss of tropical forests, which puts out as much carbon dioxide as all the planes, trains and cars worldwide".

So the idea is to give economic incentives to preserve the forests and to make it worthwhile to keep them alive, avoid logging and prevent further .

According to the Reuters report, a US$100 million readiness fund will provide grants to around 20 countries to prepare them for large-scale forest protection under a future climate change deal, also known as reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in developing countries.

This first funding stage will be used for surveys of current forest assets in developing countries, monitoring systems and tightening governance. A second stage of funding of US$200 million carbon finance mechanism will allow some of these countries to run pilot programmes earning credits for curbing deforestation. The credits will belong to the countries or groups that put up the cash for the fund.

The World Bank announced that of the US$300 million, they already have US$160 million pledged from seven developed countries.

The World Bank forest and climate change official Benoit Bosquet told Reuters that "the projects could include anything from straight forward reforestation and better zoning of agricultural and forest lands, to paying people for environmental services or improving management of forest areas".

Another contributor to the effort is The Nature Conservancy that has pledged $5 million towards a Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), an innovative new initiative launched by the World Bank as a part of the REDD efforts.

The emissions that will be saved will also have direct economic value - right now, under the Kyoto Protocol, emissions cuts from forest areas are not yet eligible for formal credits, but they may be sold on voluntary markets. After 2012 they might be eligible for formal credits.

There are some concerns - environmental groups say they are worried deals to prioritize the carbon-retaining value of forests might exclude some of the people who have most at stake - indigenous people that live in these areas. I hope these concerns will be addressed by making sure that the people live in these areas will be part of the decision-making process, so that their concerns will be heard and taken into account.

All in all, I believe it's a good plan. We have to give a value to keeping forests alive. In a perfect world it would be obvious, but we're not living in a perfect world and hence we need to make sure everyone will know that keeping forests alive is more profitable than logging.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

Picture is courtesy of Sustainable Harvest international

Paying developing countries to protect their forests - Blog Action Day

Greetings for all the blogs that are participating today in the Blog Action Day! This is a very important day and I hope it will generate a powerful green voice that will help us all move in the right direction. I would like to contribute to this day a post on very good news I read during the weekend on Planet Ark. They published a story from Reuters on a new fund initiated by the World Bank that is aimed to pay developing countries for protecting and replanting their forests.

The idea is very simple - paying developing countries money for protecting their forests will give them an economic incentive to preserve them and fight deforestation. If you make conservation more worthwhile than logging to the governments and the local communities in these areas, it should keep these precious trees alive. Less deforestation = les greenhouse gas emissions.

The logic is also very clear - deforestation contributes 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions, which is, as they remind in the article, more than all the world's cars, trucks, trains and airplanes together! And as the world bank sees it - less deforestation = less greenhouse gas emissions.

The development of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), as the new fund is called will depends on the global agreement that will take effect after Kyoto Protocol will expire in 2012. In the meantime, the article reports that there will be some testing of the concept in 3-5 countries to check how well it works in real life.

I think that all in all it's a good idea and with no economic value to the forests, it will be very difficult to save them from logging. It's also important to make sure that this funding will be spent wisely and that the governments will collaborate and share it with local communities that live in these areas. Their participation and support is critical to the success of this mechanism.

In any case, we still have to remember that this is only a temporary solution. A sustainable solution will have to include also the demand side and ensure that consumers in the developed world will consume alternatives for logging products. For example, recycled paper instead of virgin paper. Only then, when demand will fall, we'll be able to secure the future of the forests and the future of this planet.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!