News

4th June 2009
Land-based Carbon In Greenhouse Gas Control Strategies Lowers Costs And Preserves Forests

Researchers show the importance of land-based carbon in strategies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon stored and sequestered in trees and soils play a major role. Ignoring the impact of forestry and agriculture will limit our capacity to address climate change and probably result in losing nearly all unmanaged forests.

Science Daily News

1st June 2009
Forestry projects to be included in CDM

The UN Clean Development Mechanism, for offsetting carbon emissions by investing in carbon reduction projects, is looking into the inclusion of forestry projects. This would create a major opportunity for preventing deforestation and restoring areas of forest. The CDM board is also looking into measures for streamlining the process for entering projects into the CDM, with a view to making it more affordable for smaller scale projects.

Business Green News

16th March 2009
Forests 'facing a testing time'

World forests face the dual challenge of climate change and the global economic crisis, a key UN report says.

BBC News

29th November 2008
Amazon deforestation accelerates

The destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has accelerated for the first time in four years, Brazilian officials say. Satellite images show 11,968 sq km of land was cleared in the year to July, nearly 4% higher than the year before. The government said the figure was unsatisfactory but could have been a lot worse if it had not taken action against illegal logging.

High commodity prices had allegedly tempted farmers to clear more land. In recent years the Brazilian government has been able to celebrate three successive falls in deforestation. But the latest estimate from the National Institute for Space Research, known as INPE, shows that this trend has come to a halt.

'Could be worse'

Gilberto Camara of the Space Research Institute, said they would have liked better news. "We believe it is a setback, but we believe it is also positive in the sense that the expected levels were much higher," Mr Camara said. "There was a lot of burning on the ground in the second half of 2007, which could have led to a much greater increase in deforestation." In response the government announced a series of measures to clamp down on illegal logging, including a major operation involving police and environmental inspectors known as the "Arc of Fire".

Brazil's Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, said that without actions like this, the figures could have been much higher. "Many had expected an increase of 30-40% and we managed to stabilise it," Mr Minc told a news conference. But he said that the government was still not satisfied. "We want to lower numbers even more. We want zero deforestation."

BBC News

22nd November 2008
Amazon Protected By Carbon Money

In the Juma forest reserve deep in Brazil's Amazon, conservationists will receive money from a Brazilian bank and a global hotel chain to protect trees and combat global warming. The project is seen as a test case watched by other potential donors, mostly in rich countries, who want to help preserve tropical forests as a way to reduce their carbon footprints but have doubts about accountability and measuring success.

The Washington, D.C., area-based Marriott hotel chain agreed on Friday to donate $2 million over four years to the Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon, which runs the project. The money is to compensate for the carbon emissions of its guests worldwide and will help the foundation protect 34 forest reserves totalling 41 million acres (16.4 million hectares), which it already manages.

"The Amazon plays a huge role in combating global warming," Arne Sorenson, executive vice president of Marriott, was quoted as saying by the foundation. Hotel guests will also be asked to donate $1 to the project, the foundation said. Brazil's Bradesco bank and the Amazonas state government each donated 20 million reais ($9.4 million) to the foundation, which was created in December.

Brazil is one of the world's largest carbon emitters because of the 2.9 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of Amazon forest that are destroyed each year, mostly by illegal loggers, poor settlers, cattle ranchers and farmers. Burning and clearing forests to create pastures or farmland in tropical forests from Brazil to Indonesia accounts for roughly 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

TRANSPARENCY CONCERNS

Several developing countries, including Brazil, are proposing that the United Nations Kyoto climate treaty be revised so that polluters can buy carbon credits for the protection of forests. "Our message to the world is that obstacles to include forests in the Kyoto Protocol can be overcome," said Virgilio Viana, head of the foundation. Some potential donors are concerned about transparency, accountability, and the difficulty of measuring carbon sequestration in tropical forest projects. But external audits and international certifications of the foundation should help allay such concerns, said Viana, a Harvard-educated former Amazonas state secretary of environment.

In exchange for their donations, companies stand to gain good publicity. "Companies do this because they want to win over customers," said Viana. "The world is on fire and aware citizens want companies to do something about it," he added.

The 1.5 million-acre (590,000-hectare) Juma forest reserve was certified by TÜV SUD, a German testing and inspections group, as complying with the standards of the Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance, a group of 20 leading companies and environmental groups. Juma claims to be the first certified Brazilian project to reduce greenhouse gases through forest preservation. Satellite images will be used to document its preservation, said Viana.

The foundation hopes to capitalize further by selling carbon credits. But Amazonas state Gov. Eduardo Braga said the current financial turmoil showed how important it was for companies to invest directly in conservation efforts and not rely only on carbon markets. "The carbon of the Amazon cannot be treated like a security on financial markets," Braga said.

15th December 2007
Forest Protection Included In Bali Climate Deal

The UN climate talks in Bali have resulted in an outstanding deal for the world's forests. Up until now, forest protection has not been allowed under the regulated carbon offsetting mechanism known as the CDM. But with around 20% of global carbon emissions resulting from forest destruction, it is only rational that forest protection be included in the range of carbon reduction projects available to the UN carbon market. The programme, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation ( REDD), should see billions of dollars being invested into forest protection measures, such as preventing illegal logging. The strength of using forest protection is that not only are greenhouse gases cut, reducing the climatic threat to biodiversity and human society, but also species and habitats are directly saved from the devastating consequences of forest loss. When these new policies come into effect, Forest Moor will be able to offer offset credits for our forest projects in Peru and Brazil to regulated companies. Currently these are only available to businesses which are offsetting voluntarily.