What the Kyoto Protocol Agreement Means for Tropical Conservation
11/25/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: The Kyoto Protocol Agreement: What it Means for Tropical
Forest Conservation
Source: China Daily, People's Republic of China, and Antara News
Agency, Indonesia
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 25, 1999
Byline: Zhu Baoxia, of China Daily, and Dian Suita, of Antara News
Agency
"SAVE the world with little money - cost-effective forest
conservation contributes to retard climate change".
According to a speaker at a conference on environmental economics in
Singapore last week, planting trees could help combat global warming
and provide developing countries with a valuable source of income.
"Forests create a biological system that captures large amount of
carbon and reduces green house gas (GHG) in the atmosphere," said
researcher Roger Sedjo, who works with Resources for the Future, a
private non profit research group based in Washington D.C. Sedjo
urged all nations to contribute to the fight against global warming
by planting new forests while protecting existing forested areas.
"Forest conservation could be a most cost-effective method of
reducing carbon dioxide emissions," he said.
Backing up his call for more to be done to plant trees, Sedjo
sketched out a system under which developed countries would subsidise
forestation work in developing nations. He also called for both
parties to work to meet the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol which
was set up in 1997 to combat global warming.
His suggestions were made in light of past failures in the area of
global conservation. Up until now, developing countries have had
little to say in the settlement of global issues such as GHG
reduction. Developed nations have also often failed to keep their
promises in the areas of both funding and technological transferring.
According to Sedjo, it only costs US$20 to reduce carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere by one tonne. Other approaches, such as energy
efficiency, can cost up to $400 a tonne. However, he warned that not
all nations have fully realised the importance of forest conservation
and have done little to stop deforestation.
Mr Sedjo explained that in some countries, it is part of government
policy to convert forest into land for commercial logging and other
agricultural purposes.
This problem is compounded by the fact that in many areas illegal
migrants enter forests to establish settlements.
Global warming is not the only environmental issue that crosses
national boundaries. For example, the 1997/1998 forest conflagration
in Indonesia was a major global environmental disaster, bringing
pollution and health problems to the whole of Southeast Asia.
Research published by the Economy and Environment Program for
Southeast Asia and the World Wide Fund for Nature indicate that the
fire and haze affected 5 million hectares in Indonesia and 70 million
people throughout the region. Moreover, the release of carbon from
fires will contribute to climate change, which will in turn result in
global economic damage.
Unfortunately, the international response to the Indonesian fires
does not bode well for future international cooperation on
environmental issues, since assistance from countries outside
Indonesia was short-term and piece meal.
Despite such past failures, Sedjo expressed his belief that all
governments must keep in mind that forests are a "carbon sink" that
works for the benefit of all human beings. "Several American
institutions have undertaken environmental projects in a number of
developing countries. They plant trees and educate the local people
on sustainable logging practices," he said.