THE CLIMATE CRISIS:

ADDRESSING FIVE KEY AREAS FOR CHANGE  Part 1 - Forests by: Jonah Busch, Climate Economics Fellow at Conservation International.

Why forest? Pexels.com - photo

This lesson was written by Jonah Busch, an environmental economist who studies climate change and tropical deforestation. He is the author of more than thirty-five scientific papers and the co-author of the book “Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change.” He is a Climate Economics Fellow at Conservation International. 

 The biggest cause of climate change, by far, is burning fossil fuels. But the second biggest cause of climate change is deforestation, mostly in the tropics. If deforestation were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the United States. The good news is deforestation can be stopped and even reversed. And reversing deforestation doesn’t just cool the climate; it has many other benefits too. 

 [TEXT: Deforestation and ecosystem loss and its relation to climate change] 

 As a tree grows, it takes carbon dioxide gas out of the atmosphere and turns it into solid carbon, through photosynthesis, which it stores in its trunk, branches, and roots. If the tree is cut and burned, that carbon goes back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is harmful, warming the planet. Carbon stored in forests, however, is beneficial. Forests provide habitat for more than half the species that live on land. Forests generate rainfall that nourishes agriculture. And forested watersheds are a source of cleaner drinking water. Worldwide, forests are being cleared and burned much faster than they’re growing back. An area of forest about the size of Ghana is lost each year, contributing around a tenth of global greenhouse gas emissions.

As reported in the journal Science, the main causes of deforestation are different in different parts of the world. YouTube video by learning junction.

 In Latin America, forests are being turned into cattle pasture and soy fields. In Asia, forests are cleared to make way for oil palm and pulp and paper plantations. In Africa, forests are being displaced by expansion of smallholder agriculture. Outside the tropics, there’s rotational timber harvesting, as well as fires and disease. The good news is that it’s possible to reduce and even reverse deforestation quickly, and over large areas, without any new technology. Here are six ways to reduce deforestation: 

 1. Protect forests with national parks.

 2. Recognize the territories of Indigenous peoples. 

3. Pay land users who keep forests standing. 

4. Enforce forest protection laws. 

5. Build roads that avoid forests. 

6. Grow more crops on existing farmland instead of clearing forest.

 Can this be done? It already has! The best example is from Brazil. Between 2004 and 2012, Brazil reduced deforestation in the Amazon by 80%. At the same time, Brazil’s soy and beef production went up. If anyone figured out how to cut their country’s fossil fuel emissions by 80%, in under a decade, with so little impact on the economy, they’d win a Nobel Prize, writes Busch. Here’s how Brazil did it:

 ● They established new protected areas and they recognized Indigenous territories. 

● They enforced forest laws. 

● They restricted credit to farmers in municipalities with high deforestation. 

 

● Companies stopped buying soy and beef grown on recently deforested land. 

The beef, soy, and palm oil that drive deforestation can be found in kitchens and on dinner plates all over the world. So when it comes to reducing deforestation, countries that consume these products also have a responsibility. Consumers can make sure they are informed about the environmental impact of the products they choose and work to avoid those that are most harmful. Here are three things these countries can do to help reduce deforestation: 

 ● Provide financial support to countries that keep forests standing. 

● Prioritize commodity imports from regions with little deforestation. 

● Set a good example by cutting their own emissions from fossil fuels. For more on this course and to access related resources, visit our website.

 [TEXT: DEMOCRACY, PROSPERITY, HUMAN RIGHTS, EDUCATION, SECURITY A PRODUCTION OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE] 

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