Forests Are Important to Agreements in Copenhagen
December 12, 2009
Many delegates hope that reforestation, reduced deforestation and forest degradation (popularly known as REDD +) will be incorporated into the agreement that comes out of Copenhagen and help restore, conserve and protect forests of the world. Forests are important because science informs that almost 17- 20% of greenhouse gases (ghs) especially CO2, come from deforestation and forest degradation. Delegates hope that they can agree that temperatures should not be allowed to rise by more than 1.5 C. There seems to be a consensus that forests be part of the solutions to climate change.
But forests are important to us for many other reasons besides carbon. For example, forests generate essential environmental goods and services such as water, food, fuel, income and medicine. They are home to rich land-based biodiversity, they regulate climate and rainfall patterns on which agriculture depend, and they are home to many forest-dependent communities and sustain spiritual and cultural needs of billions of people. They break winds, stop soil erosion, stop expansion of deserts and land degradation and, clean the air we breathe. They provide recreational areas for local communities and tourists. These services are essential for survival and can hardly be given a price tag.
In Africa, poverty is one of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. This is because poor communities need firewood and charcoal to cook and warm their homes. The need to provide alternative sources of energy will come from the government that needs the political will to prioritize provision of electricity especially for the rural populations and urban poor. The proposed financial resources from Copenhagen could be used to increase investments in wind, solar and hydropower.
Poor communities also encroach on forests to graze livestock, expand agricultural lands and grow commercial monocultures for export. Yet, hydro-power is dependent on healthy forests, which receive and retain rainwater and keep streams and rivers flowing into dams, where electricity is generated. Destroying forests undermines the capacity to generate hydropower and promote economic growth.
Protecting national forests is therefore, very essential. Indeed the recent experience of a prolonged drought in Kenya serves as an example of how deforestation and forest degradation can contribute to a national economic crisis. Recently, when the major rivers, (Tana, Sondu and Miriu largely dried up due to destruction of forests upstream, the Kenya government closed the dams across the Tana River and had to postpone launching of the hydro-power plant across the Sondu and Miriu rivers. Hydro-power accounts for up to 70% of electricity in the country, and with the dam closed due lack of adequate water in the dams, electricity had to be rationed. Without electricity, the national economy was greatly undermined and jobs were lost while due to crop failure over ten million people faced starvation and diseases associated with malnutrition.
Some of the pastoralists trekked long distances to take their livestock to graze in the mountains. Around Mt. Kenya, this time round, the pastoralists did not have to fight over grazing lands with local communities partly because there was enough grass for everybody and partly because the local communities practice zero grazing. But a realization that overgrazing in the forests will eventually degrade forests and interfere with rainfall patterns and flow of rivers in this region too, may cause conflicts here as elsewhere in the country.
Sustainable management of forests is therefore, in the national interest of countries. Because of their role as carbon sinks and generators of the other environmental goods and services, forests have also now captured the interest of the world. This is especially true for huge forests such as the Amazon, Congo and forests around Indonesia and Borneo regions. But even small forests like those we have in Kenya stand to gain from the carbon market and REDD+. This is because keeping these forests standing and protected is essential for the balancing of the global climate and for the capacity of communities to reduce their vulnerability, mitigate and adapt to the negative impacts of climate change.
The Green Belt Movement is engaged in forest restoration through direct planting of trees on degraded areas in CDM pilots that are being implemented in partnership with the Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) and the World Bank. If REDD + is incorporated into the agreements, there could be large amounts of money available form the private and public sectors. It is a great opportunity for countries to save their forests and at the same time improve the quality of life of their people.
For us to benefit from REDD+, the government will have to revisit its policy of allowing cultivation of food crops in forests, planting of monoculture commercial plantations of exotic trees (shamba system), and grazing of livestock in the forests. These activities are the main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Kenya. If forests will regenerate and thrive, these activities will have to be halted because they are completely incompatible with carbon projects and serious REDD+. In countries with large forests like Brazil or Congo, people may be able to graze in the forests and also have carbon sites. But Kenya does not even have the 10% forest cover recommended by the United Nations!
That is why the recent recommendation by the Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources, John Michuki, that every farmer put 10% of their land under trees, should be made legal. It would increase the number of trees in the country and the capacity for the carbon market and because farmers would have their own trees on farms, there would be less pressure on forests. The more trees Kenya has the greater is the opportunity to participate in the carbon market. Let us just hope that REDD+ will be part of the ambitious, fair and legally-binding deal that leaders will sign onto here in Copenhagen.
But forests are important to us for many other reasons besides carbon. For example, forests generate essential environmental goods and services such as water, food, fuel, income and medicine. They are home to rich land-based biodiversity, they regulate climate and rainfall patterns on which agriculture depend, and they are home to many forest-dependent communities and sustain spiritual and cultural needs of billions of people. They break winds, stop soil erosion, stop expansion of deserts and land degradation and, clean the air we breathe. They provide recreational areas for local communities and tourists. These services are essential for survival and can hardly be given a price tag.
In Africa, poverty is one of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. This is because poor communities need firewood and charcoal to cook and warm their homes. The need to provide alternative sources of energy will come from the government that needs the political will to prioritize provision of electricity especially for the rural populations and urban poor. The proposed financial resources from Copenhagen could be used to increase investments in wind, solar and hydropower.
Poor communities also encroach on forests to graze livestock, expand agricultural lands and grow commercial monocultures for export. Yet, hydro-power is dependent on healthy forests, which receive and retain rainwater and keep streams and rivers flowing into dams, where electricity is generated. Destroying forests undermines the capacity to generate hydropower and promote economic growth.
Protecting national forests is therefore, very essential. Indeed the recent experience of a prolonged drought in Kenya serves as an example of how deforestation and forest degradation can contribute to a national economic crisis. Recently, when the major rivers, (Tana, Sondu and Miriu largely dried up due to destruction of forests upstream, the Kenya government closed the dams across the Tana River and had to postpone launching of the hydro-power plant across the Sondu and Miriu rivers. Hydro-power accounts for up to 70% of electricity in the country, and with the dam closed due lack of adequate water in the dams, electricity had to be rationed. Without electricity, the national economy was greatly undermined and jobs were lost while due to crop failure over ten million people faced starvation and diseases associated with malnutrition.
Some of the pastoralists trekked long distances to take their livestock to graze in the mountains. Around Mt. Kenya, this time round, the pastoralists did not have to fight over grazing lands with local communities partly because there was enough grass for everybody and partly because the local communities practice zero grazing. But a realization that overgrazing in the forests will eventually degrade forests and interfere with rainfall patterns and flow of rivers in this region too, may cause conflicts here as elsewhere in the country.
Sustainable management of forests is therefore, in the national interest of countries. Because of their role as carbon sinks and generators of the other environmental goods and services, forests have also now captured the interest of the world. This is especially true for huge forests such as the Amazon, Congo and forests around Indonesia and Borneo regions. But even small forests like those we have in Kenya stand to gain from the carbon market and REDD+. This is because keeping these forests standing and protected is essential for the balancing of the global climate and for the capacity of communities to reduce their vulnerability, mitigate and adapt to the negative impacts of climate change.
The Green Belt Movement is engaged in forest restoration through direct planting of trees on degraded areas in CDM pilots that are being implemented in partnership with the Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) and the World Bank. If REDD + is incorporated into the agreements, there could be large amounts of money available form the private and public sectors. It is a great opportunity for countries to save their forests and at the same time improve the quality of life of their people.
For us to benefit from REDD+, the government will have to revisit its policy of allowing cultivation of food crops in forests, planting of monoculture commercial plantations of exotic trees (shamba system), and grazing of livestock in the forests. These activities are the main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Kenya. If forests will regenerate and thrive, these activities will have to be halted because they are completely incompatible with carbon projects and serious REDD+. In countries with large forests like Brazil or Congo, people may be able to graze in the forests and also have carbon sites. But Kenya does not even have the 10% forest cover recommended by the United Nations!
That is why the recent recommendation by the Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources, John Michuki, that every farmer put 10% of their land under trees, should be made legal. It would increase the number of trees in the country and the capacity for the carbon market and because farmers would have their own trees on farms, there would be less pressure on forests. The more trees Kenya has the greater is the opportunity to participate in the carbon market. Let us just hope that REDD+ will be part of the ambitious, fair and legally-binding deal that leaders will sign onto here in Copenhagen.