Forests Now Declaration - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Forests Now Declaration is a declaration that advocates using carbon credits to protect tropical forests. The Declaration was created by the Global Canopy Programme, and has been signed by over 200 NGOs, business leaders, scientists and conservationists. The Declaration was created as carbon credits from land use, land-use change and forestry

Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry

Land use, land-use change and forestry is defined by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat as "A greenhouse gas inventory sector that covers emissions and removals of greenhouse gases resulting from direct human-induced land use, land-use change and forestry activities."LULUCF has impacts...

were omitted from the Clean Development Mechanism

Clean Development Mechanism

The Clean Development Mechanism is one of the "flexibility" mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol . It is defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, and is intended to meet two objectives: to assist parties not included in Annex I in achieving sustainable development and in contributing to the...

for the First Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...

despite contributing 18-25% of all emissions.

Rationale

Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

in the next five years will release more carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

than all aircraft since the Wright Brothers

Wright brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

until at least 2025; however, credits from reduced deforestation were omitted from the Clean Development Mechanism

Clean Development Mechanism

for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...

, so there is little incentive for forested countries to reduce their deforestation rates. The Forests NOW declaration seeks to establish new market based mechanisms to protect the ecosystem services

Ecosystem services

Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes...

that forests provide in biodiversity

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

conservation

Conservation movement

The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....

, carbon sequesterisation

Carbon dioxide sink

A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period. The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration...

and global and local hydrological and mineral cycles.

Prescriptions

The Declaration prescribes six changes to the existing carbon market frameworks:

Ensure that carbon credits for reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and the protection of standing forests are included in all national and international carbon markets, especially those created by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Simplify and expand carbon market rules, including the Clean Development Mechanism
Clean Development Mechanism
The Clean Development Mechanism is one of the "flexibility" mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol . It is defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, and is intended to meet two objectives: to assist parties not included in Annex I in achieving sustainable development and in contributing to the...

, to encourage reforestation, afforestation and sustainable forest management.

Include tropical forest and land use carbon credits in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, while maintaining strong incentives to reduce industrial emissions.

Encourage mechanisms that recognise the value of carbon stocks and forest ecosystem services
Ecosystem services
Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes...

, and support appropriate voluntary carbon market standards.

Provide assistance for developing nations to build capacity to fully participate in the carbon markets, and to evaluate the ecosystem services their forests provide.

Incentivise the sustainable use of degraded land and ecosystems, and remove incentives that encourage forest destruction.

Signatories

Over 200 individuals and organisations have signed the Declaration including:

Union of Concerned Scientists

Union of Concerned Scientists

The Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit science advocacy group based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. James J...

Flora and Fauna International

Wildlife Conservation Society

Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society based at the Bronx Zoo was founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society and currently manages some of wild places around the world, with over 500 field conservation projects in 60 countries, and 200 scientists on staff...

Conservation International

Conservation International is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which seeks to ensure the health of humanity by protecting Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. CI’s work focuses on six key initiatives that affect human well-being: climate, food security, freshwater...

Coalition for Rainforest Nations

The Coalition for Rainforest Nations is an intergovernmental organization established by forested tropical counties to collaboratively reconcile forest stewardship with economic development...

Tropical Forest Trust

The Forest Trust is a UK registered charity focused on making the trade of timber from sustainable forest management standard practice. TFT works with partners at all stages of the supply chain – from forest producers, to mills and factories, to retailers who sell tropical wood products at...

Hans Blix

is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs . Blix was also the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from March 2000 to June 2003, when he was succeeded by Dimitris Perrikos...

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya...

Jane Goodall

Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE , is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National...

A full list of signatories can be found here http://www.forestsnow.org/endorsers

External links

http://www.forestsnow.org/ - the Forests Now Declaration
http://forestsnowdeclaration.blogspot.com - the Forests NOW blog

Forests in the Fight Against Climate Change, a report by the Global Canopy Initiative http://www.globalcanopy.org/themedia/file/PDFs/Forests%20First%20June%202007.pdf

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.