Deforestation and climate change
Threats/Issues
Forests have a vital role to play in the fight against global warming. Carbon is absorbed by forests and stored in the trees and soil. This carbon is released as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases when forests are disturbed or cleared.
The UK government’s Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change estimated that changes in land use, such as deforestation and forest degradation, are responsible for 18% of carbon emissions, with deforestation accounting for most of these emissions.
It is increasingly recognised that this source of emissions must be addressed if we are to prevent the global average temperature rising more than 2°C above the level recorded in pre-industrial times – the point at which we face a high risk of severe and irreversible changes in the planet’s natural systems. WWF’s report - Climate Solutions: WWF’s vision for 2050 - concluded that unless effective action is taken to curb emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, the probability of success in limiting global warming to 2°C drops progressively from more than 90% to just 35%.
Unfortunately, the economic incentives for unsustainable forest management or to convert forests to other land uses (e.g agriculture or development such as building roads and expansion of towns) are often greater (in the short-term) than the incentives to conserve or responsibly manage them.
What’s more, emissions from deforestation in developing countries are not currently included in the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - the international environmental treaty which aims to tackle global warming
At the UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Bali, in 2007, it was agreed that the post-2012 climate agreement should include a mechanism to provide developing countries with financial incentives that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). The goal is to address this source of emissions and to provide a mechanism that will make forest conservation more economically viable than unsustainable harvesting or conversion.
Places
Deforestation and forest degradation are problems in many of the places where WWF works, including:
- Brazil, which contains the Amazon - the world’s largest remaining tropical forest
- New Guinea, which contains the largest pristine rainforest in the Asia-Pacific
- Malaysia and Indonesia, home to WWF’s Heart of Borneo initiative.
WWF in action
Over the next five years, WWF will be working with partners to ensure that a REDD mechanism is included within the post-2012 global climate agreement, and provides a credible way of reducing emissions with appropriate levels of compensation for the costs associated with emissions reductions. It is vital that the mechanism delivers robust carbon benefits, alongside environmental and social safeguards.
In addition to the development of a framework for international policy, it is essential that key developing countries, such as Brazil and Indonesia (which are together responsible for approximately half the global emissions from deforestation), implement national REDD frameworks. WWF will work with countries to engage in negotiations for a REDD mechanism and to implement activities that will reduce their emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.