MPR to Victoria Peak over the Chiquibul NP – image © Neil Rogers
Deforestation outstrips carbon emissions from planes, automobiles and factories accounting for up to 25% of global emissions of heat trapping gases. Scientists say that globally one day of deforestation is the equivalent of 8 million people flying from London to New York.
Incentives are desperately needed for poorer countries to stop clearing and burning existing forests. Indonesia recently became the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and Brazil is close behind at fourth. This is due not to emissions from industry but from the staggering deforestation taking its toll on their tropical forests.
Each year about 50 million acres of forests are globally lost emitting about 2 billion tons of CO2. Experts estimate that remaining forests contain about 1,000 billion tons of carbon, about double the amount currently in the atmosphere.
It seems obvious that if we lose the fight to save our forests then we lose the climate change battle too.
Can REDD and especially REDD+ be a solution for developing countries with high levels of intact forest?
Why are tropical forests important? They help combat climate change; they provide a home to 90% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity; they are home to indigenous and forest dependent peoples who are the natural stewards of the forests; they provide humanity with ecosystem services; they store carbon and soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; they protect watersheds, control water flow and generate rainfall among other complex environmental services.
What is REDD? – it stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degredation
The idea is simple – countries that are willing and able to reduce emissions from deforestation should be financially compensated for doing so. REDD provides a framework to help curb global deforestation.
If Belize is to participate and be a beneficiary of REDD it need help to measure its carbon pool and create baselines or reference levels. Currently a number of experts and universities are helping NGOs determine how much carbon is pooled in a variety of Belize’s tropical forests. This process is critical in order to be able to participate in REDD and qualify for REDD funding.
There are three basic options:
RED > Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
REDD > Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degredation
REDD+ > Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degredation or Enhancement of carbon stocks
Belize has been designated a Quadrant IV country with a low deforestation rate of < 0.22%/yr while having a high forest cover >50%. This means that Belize could be a leading beneficiary of REDD if a benefit distribution model is based on existing carbon stocks.
In addition Belize’s struggle to find a political compromise to the deforestation along the Belize-Guatemalan border (5000 ha of protected forest have been lost in the Chiquibul NP close to Caracol through deforestation by Guatemalan farmers and loggers living in villages along the border) could also be solved with help from REDD funding. With unchecked deforestation along the border taking place the Chiquibul watershed and the water/ecosystem resources it provides to communities both sides of the border are under threat (see previous blog entry on this topic). With REDD funding the deforested land could be reforested and at the same time the protection of existing forest could be rewarded with REDD funding.
Other options could include the reforestation of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve as well as deforested and degraded lands that link Belize’s protected areas to the north (the Gallon Jug tract and the Rio Bravo Conservation & Management Area) with the protected areas of the Maya Mountain Massif. Reforestation on this scale would create tremendous benefits for biodiversity & the gene pool of endangered species, it would create employment, stimulate ecotourism growth and create a wide range of sustainable livelihoods from tropical forest products.
For more detailed information on REDD
For more information on The Global Canopy Programme - an alliance of 37 scientific institutions in 19 countries, which lead the world in forest canopy research, education and conservation.
For deforestation and climate change issues The Prince’s Rainforests Project
Markedly well executed piece of writing!