Rainforest Conservation Efforts

Tropical rainforests have all along been thought to be unaffected by climate change as they emit and absorb an almost equal amount of carbon dioxide to have small impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Unfortunately, no rainforest today can today be considered to be undisturbed. Deforestation releases carbon dioxide causing global warming. It is commonly believed that forests absorb more carbon than they emit, acting as a valuable carbon sink. But according to recent report compiled by 35 world's leading scientists, the warming climate may cause the tropical forests to give off more carbon dioxide than they take up creating feedback effect which accelerate warming rather than slowing it down.

Meanwhile, temperature rise has lifted the level of clouds, reducing forest moisture and drying out some of the habitats. Surveys show lowland, dry habitat species are already moving higher into former cloud forest areas.

Even in places that have been undisturbed for more than 4500 years, the rise in anthropogenic carbon dioxide appears to affect growth of different species. While many tree genera are growing faster, others are declining in vitality. "Rainforest dynamics are changing. The functioning of undisturbed forests as an important carbon sink could be modified by these pervasive changes, and could have serious ecological repercussions on the forest diversity." said William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Institute.

Almost all the tropical rainforests in the world have been threatened due to undesirable practices of shifting agriculture and logging. The higher temperatures - along with prolonged droughts, more pest invasions, and other environmental stresses are accelerating forest degradation and destruction, affecting thousands of plant and animal species and upsetting the natural biologic equilibrium that keeps a rainforest healthy and stable. The mutualism that sustains numerous species has been destabilized and could lead to massive extinctions.

Experts are of the opinion that by leaving the rainforests intact and harvesting it's many nuts, fruits, oil-producing plants, and medicinal plants, the rainforest has higher long term economic value than if they were grazed for cattle or logged for timber.

Statistics show that economic returns from cattle rearing is $60, from timber logging is $400 per acre, and from sustainable forestry harvest, such as on herbs, nuts, fruits is $2400 on a long term basis. Thus sustainable forestry economy is the best way to prevent the disappearance of forests.

In many rainforest throughout the world, areas have been set aside and managed as National parks or for continued growth and production of timber. In Australia, rainforest growing in State forest is preserved and logging not permitted.

The success to reduce emissions reduction via deforestation prevention highly depends on the financial ability of a country in its fight against the loggers and other agents of deforestation. It is not possible to preserve the forests without economic planning projects for the forests. It is not possible too to prevent logging without offering sustainable economic alternatives to logging. Under a scheme called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD), developing nations that conserve their forests will be rewarded with financial returns through carbon credit awards.

The meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) 2007 in Bali achieved a major break through. 27 countries, including the US and China, recognize the importance of reducing deforestation emissions which was not included in the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism.

At COP14/CMP4 Poznan 2008, the work towards a new global climate agreement in Copenhagen continued, was marked by anticipated commitments by new US government. Progress was make on a number of important issues, including reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).

All along, there are many forest conservation organizations and activists working to secure the lands and livelihoods of forest people and support their efforts to defend the forests from commercial logging, dams, mining, plantations, shrimp farms, colonization and other forest threatening projects.

Meanwhile, tropical rainforest countries collaborate to reconcile forest stewardship with economic development; partner with industrialized nations for new and improved revenue, fair trade and improved market access so as achieve community-based and environmentally sustainable economic growth.

It is agreed today that tropical forests represent much more than directly marketable economic wealth. However, the value of the environmental services rendered by the forest (biodiversity, protection of water and soils, stabilization of the climate and storage of carbon, cultural and social values, potential values in ecotourism and pharmaceutical industry, etc.) still remain very poorly evaluated and have hardly started to enter the financial calculations of the long-term management of these ecosystems.


Rainforests house many of the world's most fascinating animals - ecotourism (Pic: A Costa Rican cobalt poison dart frog)		Mangrove forest with complex intertwined roots for soil and water conservation, salinity control, flood and hurricane mitigation		Myriads of plant species offering pharmaceutical potential as curative solution to many diseases. (Pic: bintangor for HIV treatment)

For example, an astounding variance of price, according to a recent World Bank study, where community owners gets less than $10, while the retail outlets in US may fetch as high as $2300. A market correction will require solidarity between Industrialized and Developing Nations.

Forest Product Value-Chain	Price ($/m3)
Community Owners	< $10
Third-World Exports	$50
US Imports	$700
US Retail Outlets	$2,300

Bountiful media attention, increasing awareness of the ecological, economic and social aspects of forests and trees amongst the public, dissemination of scientific knowledge to stakeholders and decision-makers by scientists and organizations, coupled with social and political action have helped to curb or slow down the pace of rainforests destruction.

References and related news:

Indonesia Says REDD Unworkable: Carbonpositive.net
List of Forest Conservation Organizations: Dir.yahoo.com
Amazon Carbon Sinks Effect 'Slows': News.bbc.co.uk
Agroforestry in Uganda
Tanzania Forest Conservation Group
Climate Change: Financing Global Forests - Eliasch Review
Initiatives: Sustainable Forest Markets: Rainforestcoalition.org/
Efforts to Preserve the Congolese Forests: CBFP.org/news
Forest Conservation Efforts:

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