Uniting Haves, Have-Nots On Deforestation Not Easy

Grist reports that Senators John Kerry and Dick Lugar made it clear that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would be making the environment a big part of their policy, focusing their message yesterday specifically on deforestation.

African deforestation rates in particular are worrisome.

But Grist pointed out one hurdle that the world hasn't cleared before: the chasm between rich and poor countries:

Former U.S. climate negotiator Stuart Eizenstat also spoke at the event, emphasizing that programs to incentivize avoided deforestation will be critical in engaging developing nations in climate talks. Developing nations and their citizens depend more directly on forests for their livelihoods, and deforestation is often the result of a lack of other economic options.

"There was an impasse [during Kyoto Protocol negotiations] between developed and developing nations that must be avoided in Copenhagen," said Eizenstat. "This is a way to engage developing countries that want to come to the table, who want to make their contribution to avoiding climate change."

And it's even more complicated than that, of course. It's not just about winning the hearts and minds of developing countries and then convincing them, somehow, that it's to their advantage not to cut down trees despite the money -- it's also about beating corruption.

One small victory for forests came recently when the Democratic Republic of Congo canceled 60 percent of its logging contracts in order to fight corruption and deforestation. Just to restate that for emphasis: the government was concerned that 60 percent of its own logging contracts were in some way bogus.

It's an uphill battle for Kerry and Lugar. In the meantime, they might want to consider switching to treeless paper. I'm sure Kerry could get a few headlines by writing on recycling elephant dung notepads.

Comments

[MissElaineous]

It is a cultural thing for African women to use wood, so just shouting at them will not do.Its very easy to save African forests. There's a little stove called the rocket stove that uses a lot less wood to cook with.

Additionally, it can be pretty cheap to pay people to plant and preserve saplings. This also prevents desertification.

Dealing with other countries while we still are having a crisis remains important. As an analogy, I worked as a systems administrator where we had a staff of 8 and hundreds of servers. If one main file server went down, people were not satisifed until all 8 of us were standing in the server room with our hands in our pockets watching the server bring itself up. 7 of us could have been doing a lot of other things, but the executives were idiots and liked a big show.

Being a global power is more complex than one thing. We cannot have everyone in the server room staring at the economic stimulus package 24/7. There are other things to do and working to mitigate global warming (as well as maintaining ties with Africa, where there are lots of resources) is one of them.

[Greenguy25]

Our country is in the midst of the worst economical meltdown in generations and we are discussing African forests. Yes, it does not take a genius (good news for politicians) to figure out that cutting down large forests will produce negative results.

Why then do we have to spread our focus in so many directions, lets tackle this little economic issue at home with some sensible environmental programs and then we can join senator Kerry to talk about Africa.

It seems that these senators, both sides, are not happy unless they are changing focus from one issue to the next. PICK A F*%$#% TOPIC and see it through and then move on.

Senator Kerry, if you want to help, go out and start funding renewable energy projects with your wife's fortune, you know, the one she inherited from her first husband.

http://www.mygreenscene.com

[Palemoon]

This is one thing that bothers me. Not only conservation, which we should be concerned about. But also the lack of recycling. For all the talk of us living in the land of plenty, we will eventually run out. Might not be 10 years from now, might not even be 200 years from now. But at some point we will. Much like the talk of putting today's debts onto our grandchildren to pay off. So too we are passing our lack of foresight, lack of conservation, lack of recycling on down to the point that they will have to deal with the consequences of that too. I don't see how they will stand a chance, unless we have populated another planet or two out in the galaxy somewhere.

It goes without saying that we need trees for our ecosystem more importantly than we need them to build homes and print newspapers on. We should be recycling most of what we use on a daily basis.

The problem as far as I can see? Cost. Big Business doesn't see recycling as cost effective since they'll have to build all the supporting infrastructure to make it happen. They'll whine about the fact that it's cheaper to mine/log/manufacturer new stuff, than to recycle the old. So why bother, right?

[sheila]

guess what will happen if we destroy the Mojave? the SAME CATASTROPHIC LOSSES of carbon-sequestering ecosystem. ignorance of the deserts and their function is leading to mass slaughter of species, carbon sinks, aquifers and other critical environmental components, led largely by people like Schwarzenegger, Sierra Club and NRDC (based in NorCal), for, of all things GIANT, unneeded Industrial Solar and Wind developments. Meanwhile, when presented numerous times about the facts, and the truth that 100% of the US' electricity needs could be met faster, cheaper, and MUCH cleaner while helping PEOPLE , SAVING money, and SAVING our open spaces, these people FIGHT US.

what is wrong with a country when the regular citizens have to fight Big Enviros because Big Enviros have sold out the environment for profits????

make your voice heard and get on the phone with your elected reps DEMANDING loan programs like CA's AB 811 be FUNDED, and FEED IN TARIFFS be implemented, so local PV has a fair shot at saving the planet - before it's too late!! Big Energy is still Big Energy, and all the evil and corruption that entails, even if it is greenwashed. we need RATEPAYER generation as Phase 1.

[LDnearthesea]

Just keeping it local, why is it that some of the loudest opponents of alternative energy, and proponents of fossil fuels, the Bush Family, has solar panels on their compound in Kennebunkport, Maine?

[Semaj51]

The main cause of deforestation in Africa is not for economical reasons but for survival. Vast regions of trees and brush has been cut down as sources of fuel for cooking and heating.