Posted on 27 November
2011
Durban, South Africa – It’s possible to
reduce deforestation
to near zero by 2020, but delaying action
to save forests by even a decade means double
the area of forests lost by 2030, says WWF.
According to the latest
chapter of WWF’s Living Forests Report,
“Forests and Climate”, the world stands
to lose 55.5 million hectares of forest
between now and 2020, even if we take urgent
action to reduce deforestation. If the world
delays the necessary steps, we stand to
lose 124.7 million hectares by 2030, according
to the report.
These forests are not
only vital to the well-being of people and
wildlife, but also to the global climate,
because deforestation releases greenhouse
gases, says WWF. The report finds that reducing
deforestation to near zero would also bring
global emissions from forest destruction
close to zero, but delaying this reduction
until 2030 would mean sacrificing an additional
69 million hectares of forest worldwide
and at least an additional 24GtCO2 into
the atmosphere, not including losses from
forest degradation or the carbon stored
below ground. Currently, up to 20 per cent
of global carbon emissions come from deforestation
and forest degradation – more than the total
emissions from the global transportation
sector.
The report further finds that new plantations
are not the solution, as they will not begin
to sequester enough carbon to offset emissions
from deforestation until 2040 at the earliest.
“Our forests are disappearing
while we sort out how to save them,” said
Bruce Cabarle, Leader of WWF’s Forest and
Climate Initiative. “This continued loss
of forests will have dire consequences for
our global climate, for nature and for the
livelihoods of billions of people. And we
know we can’t plant our way out of the problem.
The message is clear – we must act now to
protect the world’s forests for good or
we’ll lose them forever.”
According to WWF, United Nations climate
talks, set to get underway this week in
South Africa, provide a key opportunity
for the world’s governments to unite on
efforts to halt global forest loss. At these
talks, details on a scheme in which developed
countries pay developing countries not to
cut down their forests will be agreed.
This effort, referred
to as REDD+, is a unique opportunity to
address both climate change and forest loss,
and while considerable progress has been
made on working out the details, governments
must now commit to a global target for tackling
deforestation at the scale and pace needed,
said WWF. The Living Forests Report finds
that achieving zero net forest loss by 2020
is highly unlikely without REDD+.
“WWF understands that these climate negotiations
are complex. But we must not let the opportunity
that REDD+ presents slip through our fingers.
If we get this right, we can safeguard our
climate and help people overcome poverty.
There is too much at stake to let these
talks get mired down by technicalities,”
said Gerald Steindlegger, Policy Director
of WWF’s Forest and Climate Initiative.
WWF is asking global leaders to back an
ambitious target of near zero forest loss
by 2020. The Living Forests Report shows
that this target is achievable through improved
governance – sustainable land-use plans,
law enforcement, improved land tenure systems,
transparent and inclusive management, and
markets that demand sustainable forestry
and agriculture products.
Yet the report shows that in reaching this
target, countries must adopt strong safeguards
to protect the planet’s biodiversity and
benefit local communities and indigenous
peoples.
Given the urgency of halting forest loss,
WWF is calling on governments to provide
the needed finance to support REDD+ actions.
Industrialized countries have a critical
role to play in providing new and additional,
adequate and predictable financing for REDD+.
According to recent analysis by the International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis,
new and additional, predictable and adequate
finance to achieve ZNDD by 2020 lies in
the range of US$30-53 billion per year.
While public financing is essential, other
sources of innovative financing, such as
credit support for forest bonds, could be
a way to leverage private-sector finance
so that governments are not alone in efforts
to scale up forest finance, according to
WWF.
The Living Forests Report uses the Living
Forests Model, developed for WWF by the
International Institute for Applied Systems
Analysis (IIASA), to consider a range of
different forest scenarios for the next
half century, modified by changes in diet,
biofuels, conservation policy, and fuelwood
and timber demand. The report concludes
that achieving and sustaining Zero Net Deforestation
and Forest Degradation by 2020 (ZNDD) is
possible if we act now. The report further
finds that unless we act now to use REDD+
to successfully halt deforestation, the
opportunity to keep global temperature rise
well below 2oC will be lost. According to
WWF, reaching an agreement on key elements
of REDD+ is critical to saving forests and
the climate, conserving biodiversity, and
benefitting the well-being and livelihoods
of people around the world.
+ More
Creativity needed to
reduce demand for endangered species
Posted on 25 November
2011
Efforts to reduce the demand for parts and
products from endangered species must effectively
address the attitudes, motivations and behaviours
that drive this demand if they are to be
successful.
New and innovative approaches
must also be developed for the different
groups that can influence the consumer demand
for tigers, rhinos and other endangered
wildlife species.
Thinking laterally
These were the conclusions from more than
20 participants from diverse professional
backgrounds—including advertising and marketing,
social research, behavioural economics,
public health and wildlife trade—who met
at a workshop in Hong Kong this week.
Their task was to develop
new strategic approaches to address the
complex challenges of increasing effectiveness
of messages on demand reduction for consumption
of tigers and other endangered wildlife
species in China and Vietnam.
Economic boom increases
appetite for widlife products
In the past decade, the economic boom in
countries such as China and Vietnam has
fuelled an appetite for the consumption
of wildlife products, such as other Asian
big cats, elephants, rhinos, pangolins and
marine species such as sharks, humphead
wrasse and marine turtles.
This demand has been
a main cause for the drastic decline in
populations of these species, resulting
in, for example, wild tiger numbers plummeting
to only 3,200 in increasingly small pockets
of forest, grassland and swamp in 12 countries
in Asia and the Russian Far East.
“Efforts in the past to curb this demand
have obviously fallen short of dissuading
consumers, and the trade continues,” said
Steven Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC,
the wildlife trade monitoring network, which
convened the meeting.
Understanding and addressing
motivations
“Efforts now really need to focus in on
the underlying social motivations that drive
people to buy these products—whether it
is as a symbol to show off their success
or social status, or as a gift to impress
their peers or business partners.”
The meeting outlined designs for approaches
to address the different motivations of
various target groups such as businessmen,
high-level government officials, youth and
local village communities.
“Clearly, a multi-layered
strategy and diverse set of actions is needed
to influence some very different motivations
and groups of people. Reducing demand for
endangered species cannot have a one-size-fits-all
solution.”
The results of the meeting will be compiled
into a strategic document aimed at supporting
national and international efforts at curbing
demand for endangered wildlife. This includes
the Global Tiger Recovery Programme which
was launched by the World Bank-led Global
Tiger Initiative in a summit of heads of
state of tiger range countries in St Petersburg
exactly 12 months ago.
