Sustainable Forestry Management Ltd

Deforestation contributes between 18-25% of annual greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. The lack of incentives for forest protection under the Kyoto Protocol and the EU emissions trading scheme (EUTS) are undermining our ability to stabilise the climate by mid-century. Deforestation is by far the largest source of emissions from developing countries, contributing an amount greater than total US fossil fuel emissions. Indonesia and Brazil are now the world’s third and fourth largest emitters almost entirely because of deforestation. The reason is simple: it is more profitable to cut down a tree than to leave it standing. For forest communities and landowners, felling trees for timber, fuel and agriculture, however destructive, generates real income. In contrast, no one pays them to protect and restore the forests on which they, and we, rely.

Call for reform of CDM

	Preservation and restoration of of tropical forests and the planting of new forests is essential to the developing world

Deforestation is excluded and afforestation and reforestation only partially included under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the rules are so onerous that there are no operational commercial projects. The mechanism needs to be radically reformed to encourage afforestation and reforestation. World demand for timber will not simply disappear. If we want reduced deforestation there must also be afforestation and reforestation to compensate for the lost supply.

Following a two-year consultation, COP 13 will see critical decisions taken for land use and forestry in the developing world. Linking emission reductions from avoided deforestation to the carbon market and allowing for early action crediting are essential to curb deforestation, to climate stabilisation and to the realisation of a post-2012 treaty. The preservation and restoration of tropical forests, together with the planting of new forests, represent the single largest means of reducing GHG emissions over the next half-century. Payments for carbon sequestration offer the only realistic opportunity to incentivise a shift from the current paradigm of exploitation to one of stewardship. At least US$15-20 billion is required annually to reduce tropical deforestation by 50%. This is far greater than the total global public sector and not-for-profit expenditure on conservation.

Indisputable role of forests

Forests are a long-term store of carbon. They have covered vast areas of the earth’s surface for millennia, and contain 60% of terrestrial carbon. Avoided deforestation, reforestation, re-vegetation, afforestation and sustainable management all reduce emissions and generate emissions reductions. Photosynthesis is by far the most efficient carbon storage technology and the only means we have of absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. Burning the forest both releases carbon into the atmosphere and reduces the Earth’s ability to re-absorb it. Forests also provide livelihoods for the poorest and a means of adaptation to the most vulnerable, preserve watersheds, protect soils and biodiversity. By crediting forest activity, the carbon market channels the enormous sums required to provide a real alternative to continued forest and species loss and the attendant human suffering.

To avoid irreversible damage to the planet the temperatures must not increase more than 20C. This implies that annual emissions cannot exceed 31 Gt CO2e. Achieving that target requires significant emission reductions which cannot be achieved at an acceptable cost without forestry offsets. McKinsey has found that at a cost of €40 t CO2e offsetting emissions through tropical forestry accounts for a larger share, 25%, of potential abatement than any other sector, including the power sector: 50% from avoided deforestation and 50% from forest restoration and afforestation.

This new awareness of the role forestry must play has generated momentum for the inclusion of forest credits in the carbon market at COP 13. The Coalition for Rainforest Nations has galvanised efforts worldwide to ensure the inclusion of emission reductions from avoided deforestation. The Forests Now Declaration, sponsored by the Global Canopy Programme, was launched in Brazil in September 2007 calling on governments to take immediate action to include forest credits in all carbon markets. The declaration has been endorsed by over 260 prominent individuals and leading nongovernmental organisations, including: E.O.Wilson, Ghillean Prance, Peter Raven,Tom Lovejoy, Conservation International, Flora and Fauna International,Wildlife Conservation Society and Care International. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Founder of the Green Belt Movement, said in support of the Declaration:

“We need a mechanism that will assist people in developing countries, certainly in Africa, to protect their standing forests and plant trees, to protect their soil, protect biodiversity and protect livelihoods while reducing carbon emissions for everyone.”

In short, the entire world now recognizes the importance of tropical and sub-tropical forests; it is time to realise their potential. Sustainable Forestry Management Ltd was formed in 1999 by leaders in emerging market business development, conservation and human rights advocacy to realise the opportunity to channel large scale private sector investment into tropical and sub-tropical forests on a sustainable and ethical basis. The SFM Group of companies is active in Africa, Latin America, and Australasia. SFM is establishing itself as the world’s leading company in ethical and sustainable land use incorporating emerging environmental markets. It is building a global portfolio of forest assets to become a leading supplier of carbon and other environmental credits and services to the world’s emissions and environmental trading markets.

W: www.sfm.bm