At climate talks, African nations pledge to restore forests

[thejazz97]

http://news10.com/2015/12/06/at-climate-talks-african-nations-pledge-to-restore-forests/ 

Spoiler

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Tree by tree, more than a dozen African governments pledged to restore the continent’s natural forests at the United Nations climate talks on Sunday.

The earth has lost more than half its forests over the course of human history, according to the World Resources Institute. The deforestation of the world’s tropical forests has contributed to climate change by producing up to 15 percent of global carbon emissions, the organization said.

The AFR100 initiative is a pledge by African nations to restore 100 million hectares (about 386,000 square miles) of forest by 2030, according to the organization.

“As the world forges a climate agreement in Paris, African countries — which bear the least historic responsibility for climate change — are showing leadership with ambitious pledges to restore land,” said Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute.

Wanjira Mathai, daughter of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, described the AFR100 forest restoration project as unprecedented.

“I have seen restoration in communities both large and small across Africa, but the promise of a continent-wide movement is truly inspiring,” said Mathai, chairwoman of the Green Belt Movement founded by her mother. “Restoring landscapes will empower and enrich rural communities while providing downstream benefits to those in cities. Everybody wins. ”

During the Global Landscapes Forum at the U.N. climate talks, the World Bank and the German government and other partners, set aside more than $1 billion in development funding and $540 million in private funding for the African reforestation.

More than a dozen African countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, have pledged millions of acres to the project. West African nations along the Sahara desert have also pledged to plant more trees to stop the ever encroaching desert from destroying more arable land.

“Restoring our landscapes brings prosperity, security and opportunity,” said Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s Minister of Natural Resources. “With forest landscape restoration we’ve seen agricultural yields rise and farmers in our rural communities diversify their livelihoods and improve their well-being. Forest landscape restoration is not just an environmental strategy, it is an economic and social development strategy as well.”

Among the pledging countries is Madagascar, where the island forests are home to some of the world’s most unique plants and animals, all under threat from deforestation. Satellite images of the island show forests that have been slashed and burned, according to the World Wildlife Foundation.

To astronauts observing from space, Madagascar seems like an island bleeding into the ocean as its rich red soil, eroded by decades of unregulated logging, runs into the ocean, leaving behind cratered land unfit for farming, according to the foundation.

Some of the countries that are home to the Congo Basin, which conservationists call the earth’s second set of lungs, after the Amazon Basin, have also signed up to the project. The Democratic Republic of Congo has pledged 8 million hectares (20 million acres) to the restoration project.

But these pledges may face challenges from the global timber industry, exacerbated by illegal logging, which is the biggest cause of deforestation, according to environmental protection group Greenpeace. Despite laws to prevent this, it is has never been easier to illegally chop down trees in the Congo Basin, the group said.

Corruption in the Congo Basin region has undermined reforms to the timber industry, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where protected wildlife areas are increasingly disturbed, according to a Greenpeace report published earlier this year.

If this initiative succeeds, it would improve the lives of people living around forests and to the ecosystem as a whole, said Victorine Che Thoener, leader of Greenpeace’s Congo Basin project.

“But many of these African countries make these pledges in the hope that they will receive funding,” said Che Thoener, who is based in Cameroon, one of the Congo Basin countries that have signed the pledge. “There’s a lot of talk, but not a lot of action on the ground.”

Similar conservation efforts have failed because they do not include the right training and tools to monitor the progress, said Che Thoener.

Acknowledging these challenges, the World Research Institute is working on a monitoring project that includes satellite and ground-level observation, said Sean De Witt, director of the organizations global restoration initiative.

 

[thejazz97]

It'll be amazing to see once it's finished.

[Fateless]

Good start. I hope to see every involved county making positive changes.

[Edlerberry]

meanwhile china trades with the same countries basic infrastructure like paved roads for unconscionable irreversible environmental atrocities digging for minerals and oil.

 

 

[thejazz97]

7 minutes ago, Edlerberry said:

meanwhile china trades with the same countries basic infrastructure like paved roads for unconscionable irreversible environmental atrocities digging for minerals and oil.

 

 

Question: what's a better use of oil and minerals?

[Nuxfanabroad]

Horses bolted a Helluva' long time ago.

Humanity had to choose between two directions, which in the end, are mutually exclusive: environmental, or economic prioritization.

Cop-out 21 will achieve nothing. 200 entities discussing whether to replace the ol' barn door(& whether the new one should close tightly). We'll soon fully realize what we've squandered.

[Offensive Threat]

5 hours ago, thejazz97 said:

It'll be amazing to see once it's finished.

I'll be amazed when we see it get off the ground. Its easy to pledge to do something. Quite another thing to actually start doing it.

[drummer4now]

8 minutes ago, Offensive Threat said:

I'll be amazed when we see it get off the ground. Its easy to pledge to do something. Quite another thing to actually start doing it.

and knowing the amount of corruption I doubt things will go as planned or smoothly.. 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Nuxfanabroad said:

Horses bolted a Helluva' long time ago.

Humanity had to choose between two directions, which in the end, are mutually exclusive: environmental, or economic prioritization.

Cop-out 21 will achieve nothing. 200 entities discussing whether to replace the ol' barn door(& whether the new one should close tightly). We'll soon fully realize what we've squandered.

We won't, it'll be our grandkids' grandkids who will curse their forebears like us. But then, is it not politicians and corporations rather than everyday folk that have caused our global issues (spoiler alert: those same people also tell us everything is fine)?

[Toews]

12 minutes ago, Captain Woodget said:

We won't, it'll be our grandkids' grandkids who will curse their forebears like us. But then, is it not politicians and corporations rather than everyday folk that have caused our global issues (spoiler alert: those same people also tell us everything is fine)?

It's a good way to deflect blame from yourself and not have to face the guilt that all of us are responsible for the state of things today. Why do political leaders show such a lack of concern towards this issue? Because the public does not care. The general prevailing sentiment is why should we care about a problem that is unlikely to seriously affect us in our lifetimes. We are definitely to blame for the state of where we are at. 

[Guest]

I disagree, plenty of the public care but when protesters chain themselves to runways to highlight concerns over airport expansions, they get jail sentences. The only reason they do that is that politicians can easily ignore plebs like us, being chauffeur-driven around as they are.

I recycle everything I can, I rarely waste food, I keep my water, gas and electrical use to a minimum (hard with kids). I give to charity. I help my elderly neighbours. I walk when I can rather than drive. I have zero conscience on environmental issues - but all I have to do is look out of my window over foggy London town and see factories polluting the skies, thousands of cars polluting the air, supermarkets and restaurants wasting food...the private sector needs to get a grip and governments around the world need to get public transport clean, affordable, safe and linked up. For the sake of $500bn, my city could be a semi-paradise of cycle lanes, trams, eco-buses and no homeless people. But we'd rather spend it on wars abroad and keeping our bankers secure.

[Nuxfanabroad]

Respectfully gents, these are tired debates. The major emitters(eg: Energy corps) knew plenty before the masses. See the recent docu on Exxon, for example.

 & Woodget-san, the changes you project are basically upon us. Brace for impact...

[Toews]

3 minutes ago, Captain Woodget said:

I disagree, plenty of the public care but when protesters chain themselves to runways to highlight concerns over airport expansions, they get jail sentences. The only reason they do that is that politicians can easily ignore plebs like us, being chauffeur-driven around as they are.

I recycle everything I can, I rarely waste food, I keep my water, gas and electrical use to a minimum (hard with kids). I give to charity. I help my elderly neighbours. I walk when I can rather than drive. I have zero conscience on environmental issues - but all I have to do is look out of my window over foggy London town and see factories polluting the skies, thousands of cars polluting the air, supermarkets and restaurants wasting food...the private sector needs to get a grip and governments around the world need to get public transport clean, affordable, safe and linked up. For the sake of $500bn, my city could be a semi-paradise of cycle lanes, trams, eco-buses and no homeless people. But we'd rather spend it on wars abroad and keeping our bankers secure.

Sadly you aren't the average person Woodget. I see people claim that they care but are unwilling to make the sacrifices to truly make a difference. They expect the government to regulate things and want to take no responsibility for their own actions. IMO not enough people care and it allows politicians to ignore those that do and reassure others that things are just fine.