Deforestation is killing us

I know I’m not alone in this, and it is great to see it hit the mainstream media (The Independent) – deforestation is killing us.

One day’s deforestation of the rainforests equates to an equivalent carbon footprint of 8,000,000 people flying from London to New York. That’s HUGE. But there seems to be little being done about the source (root) of the problem. Instead the general public and business is being burdened with restrictions, taxes and difficult choices in an attempt to “solve” the environmental problem facing us as a result of our over-population of the planet (see my previous article from March).

The rampant slashing and burning of tropical forests is second only to the energy sector as a source of greenhouses gases according to report published today by the Oxford-based Global Canopy Programme, an alliance of leading rainforest scientists. Figures from the GCP, summarising the latest findings from the United Nations, and building on estimates contained in the Stern Report, show deforestation accounts for up to 25 per cent of global emissions of heat-trapping gases, while transport and industry account for 14 per cent each; and aviation makes up only 3 per cent of the total. “Tropical forests are the elephant in the living room of climate change,” said Andrew Mitchell, the head of the GCP.

No new technology is needed, says the GCP, just the political will and a system of enforcement and incentives that makes the trees worth more to governments and individuals standing than felled. “The focus on technological fixes for the emissions of rich nations while giving no incentive to poorer nations to stop burning the standing forest means we are putting the cart before the horse,” said Mr Mitchell.

Most people think of forests only in terms of the CO2 they absorb. The rainforests of the Amazon, the Congo basin and Indonesia are thought of as the lungs of the planet. But the destruction of those forests will in the next four years alone, in the words of Sir Nicholas Stern, pump more CO2 into the atmosphere than every flight in the history of aviation to at least 2025.

Indonesia became the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world last week. Following close behind is Brazil. Neither nation has heavy industry on a comparable scale with the EU, India or Russia and yet they comfortably outstrip all other countries, except the United States and China.

What both countries do have in common is tropical forest that is being cut and burned with staggering swiftness. Smoke stacks visible from space climb into the sky above both countries, while satellite images capture similar destruction from the Congo basin, across the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo.

According to the latest audited figures from 2003, two billion tons of CO2 enters the atmosphere every year from deforestation. That destruction amounts to 50 million acres – or an area the size of England, Wales and Scotland felled annually.

As the GCP’s report concludes: “If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change.”

Unfortunately, there’s no penalty or price on the standing trees, so the felling will continue. Is it already too late (given the biomass equation), or can we at least halt the decline and adapt to live in the changed world? There’s a lot to be said about being “carbon neutral”, a lot more than just being a modern day hippie. When you get to the root of the problem, being carbon neutral might not even be enough – we all need to start being carbon negative (ie replacing more than we generate) so that the balance can be restored and maintained.