Forests ‘facing a testing time’
The BBC is reporting “Forests ‘facing a testing time’“, citing a new study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called “State of the World’s Forests 2009” and published on Monday, timed to coincide with the start of UN World Forest Week.
CTS Nair, one of the report’s lead authors and the FAO Forestry Department’s chief economist, said the economic crisis was having “tremendous impacts – both positive and negative”.
“You will find the forestry industries in a number of countries almost on the verge of collapse,” he told BBC News.
For example, he said the construction of starter homes in the US and Canada had fallen from about two million units at the end of 2005 to less than 500,000 now.
This had led to a dramatic fall in the demand for wood products, which was affecting forest-based industries and export markets in developing nations.
However, Mr Nair added, the downturn was having some beneficial effects.
“We are seeing a decline in the prices of soya beans, palm oil and rubber etc,” he explained.
“The prices have fallen drastically, so this means that the incentives for cultivating these crops have also gone down.
“As a result, the pressure to clear primary forest stands is also declining.”
This is another fine example of how the global economic slowdown is benefiting the environment. The links between the global economy and carbon pollution of the atmosphere are showing up clearly, in line with the predictions of economists and environmental activists alike.
Carbon Planet has a long history of championing forestry based climate change mitigation, originally via carbon credits that funded reforestation, and now via a new generation of carbon credits called REDD.
An initiative called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (Redd), which is likely to involve developed nations paying tropical forest-rich nations not to cut down trees, appears to be gaining support.
Mr Nair gave the scheme a cautious welcome: “In theory, it is an excellent idea but its implementation is going to be extremely tricky.
Implementation of REDD projects is complex but there is a global will to get this right, and Carbon Planet has been quietly working on both the science and the public policy actions that will make REDD happen sooner rather than later.
For more information on our REDD activities see redd.carbonplanet.com. — DS