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INTRODUCTION Forests provide essential habitat to wildlife, produce oxygen, act as carbon sinks, control pollution and prevent erosion. The variety of life on Earth and its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. Forests help preserve biodiversity by providing habitat for many diverse species of wildlife. The Amazon rain forest, for example, is home to nearly 1,300 species of birds, over 400 each of mammals and amphibians, over 300 reptiles and millions of insects. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests, and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth. Tropical rainforests are, with coral reefs, the most endangered ecosystems in the world, and are vulnerable to a substantial loss of biodiversity. Deforestation depletes biodiversity by destroying habitat, by separating contiguous areas of rainforest from each other. When forest cover is removed, wildlife is deprived of habitat and becomes more vulnerable to hunting. Considering that about 80% of the world's documented species can be found in tropical rainforests, deforestation poses a serious threat to the Earth’s biodiversity. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Deforestation: It is the act of clearing the Earth’s trees and forests on a massive scale, usually through ways such as burning or cutting. It severely damages the quality of land, causes soil erosion, loss of species, and contributes to climate change. Inhabitant: It is the resident of a certain habitat or environment. Biodiversity: It is the existence of a wide variety of plant and animal species in their natural environments, which is the aim of conservationists concerned about the indiscriminate destruction of rainforests and other habitats. Timber: Wood prepared for use in building and carpentry. Before timber is felled, foresters assess it in order to determine how valuable it is. A harvest plan must be filed with a government agency in order to cut trees in most areas of the world. Flora and Fauna: The term used to refer to plants and wildlife of a specific geographical region or a particular time period. The term flora, named after the goddess of flowers, refers to the plants where the term fauna refers to the animal life in the particular region. Deforestation has many negative effects on flora and fauna. Commercial Logging: Cutting trees to sell as timber or pulp. GENERAL OVERVIEW Deforestation in simple term means the felling and clearing of forest cover or tree plantations in order to accommodate agricultural, industrial or urban use. It involves the permanent end of forest cover to make that land available for the residential, commercial or industrial purpose. Deforestation happens through many methods of destruction such as; fires, clearcutting for agriculture using ways such as slash and burn method, unsustainable logging for timber, etc. It also occurs due to several different causes. The reduction in the habitats of indigenous people, deforestation, is directly related to the damage they receive that goes as far as extinction in some cases. The coexistence of all living beings is only possible when there’s mutual respect. Mankind is almost entirely dependent on forests and therefore should do all that is possible to end deforestation, which is has become one of the biggest environmental problems of the day. Over the last century, the forest cover around the globe has been greatly compromised, leaving the green cover down to an all-time low of about 30 per cent. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are lost each year. However, forests all around the world are under threat of destruction due to deforestation. Biodiversity may not seem very important for humans, but it is. The living organisms of the world are critical to many aspects of human life, all of which will be affected as biodiversity is lost. Energy Wood and wood-based charcoal provide a large percentage of energy used for heating and cooking around the world, especially in rural or developing areas. Loss of biodiversity will reduce the amount of wood and the variety available for these purposes. Pollination Plants require pollination to produce seeds and fruit, and many of the plant-based foods we enjoy consuming need to be pollinated by insects or birds. Pollinators are beginning to decline in abundance globally, resulting in fewer seeds or fruit, or seeds that are less viable to produce the next generation of plants. Livelihoods Millions of people worldwide make their livings from biodiversity. People who farm, fish, or create crafts or furniture from natural sources will be in danger of losing their livelihoods if the species they depend on begin to decline. In some cases, this is paradoxical, since overfishing and overhunting contribute to the very loss that will eventually make the fishers and hunters unable to support themselves. Clean Water Watershed destruction and deforestation lead to decreased quality of drinking water, which has greatest effects in rural and developing areas. Wetlands also serve waterfiltering purposes that are lost when they are destroyed or converted. Spiritual Many people around the world value various ecosystem components in their religious and spiritual beliefs. As this biodiversity is lost it will affect culture and quality of life for many. It has long been feared that human activity is causing massive extinctions. Despite increased efforts at conservation, it has not been enough and biodiversity losses continue. The costs associated with deteriorating or vanishing ecosystems will be high. However, sustainable development and consumption would help avert ecological problems. The rapid loss of species we are observing today is estimated by experts to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. These experts calculate that between 0.01 and 0.1% of all species will become extinct each year. If the low estimate of the number of species, which means that there are around 2 million different species on our planet, is true, this means between 200 and 2,000 extinctions occur every year. However, if the upper estimate of species, which is that there are 100 million different species on our planet, is true, between 10,000 and 100,000 species extinct each year. MAJOR PARTIES INVOLVED Brazil Brazil is home to the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon Rainforest. Amazon Rainforest has been facing an accelerating amount of deforestation since 1991 and it has been slowing down only since 2004, when activities to reduce deforestation were implemented. These efforts are a reflection of the growth of the environmental and social movements in Brazil in the last two decades. Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s election as the President was one of the factors that established such improving measures. Democratic Republic of Congo Central Africa's deforestation rate since 1990 has been the lowest of any major forest region in the world. However there are still a number of threats to the health of the Congo rainforest and its residents. The biggest drivers of deforestation in the Congo rainforest over the past 20 years have been small-scale subsistence agriculture, clearing for charcoal and fuelwood, urban expansion, and mining. Industrial logging has been the biggest driver of forest degradation. However, it is important not to understate the impact of logging in the region. Logging roads have opened up vast areas of the Congo to commercial hunting, leading to a poaching epidemic in some areas and a more than 60 percent drop in the region's forest elephant population in less than a decade. Furthermore, logging roads have provided access to speculators and small-holders who clear land for agriculture. Looking forward, the biggest threats to the Congo rainforest come from industrial logging and conversion for large-scale agriculture. Some environmentalists fear that the Congo could be on the verge of a massive increase in deforestation for palm oil, rubber, and sugar production. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) An intergovernmental organization, FAO has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries. Ecuador Ecuador has experienced major changes in its forest ground mostly due to agricultural expansion and illegal logging. It has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation estimated at over %3 of its forest grounds per 2 years. This problem is recognized and reducing deforestation is considered to be a national priority. These actions are mainly taken as part of UN – REDD program projects, which Ecuador has been participating in since 2009. Paraguay The South American Atlantic Forest that runs through Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay has been cut down to 7 percent of its original size in three decades. The region in Paraguay is the part that has been decimated the most severely due to the industrialization and uncontrolled migration in the country. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is an organization that is taking progressive steps towards ending deforestation. It publishes Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) every 5 years in order to “provide a consistent approach to describing the world’s forests and how they are changing”. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) For 50 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature. The world’s leading conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally. WWF's unique way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science involves action at every level from local to global and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that meet the needs of both people and nature. In the fight against deforestation, the role of WWF is crucial. The organization funds many projects, such as Zero Net Deforestation and Forest Degradation (ZNDD), and are to be fulfilled until 2020. TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS 1 December 2008 14 February 2011 May 2013 15 November 2013 26 November 2014 15 January 2016 23 February 2016 Deforestation destroys 70% of the Amazon US oil giant Chevron is fined for polluting the Amazon Major oil spill from Ecuador that severely affects and concerns Brazil Brazil states that Amazon deforestation rose 28% in only a year A year later, deforestation drops by 18% in the light of effective measures taken A chemical explosion at a cargo warehouse in Brazil occurs, unleashing a mass of toxic gas. Over 3000 barrels of crude oil are spilled in the Amazonian region, as a courtesy of Peru. UN Involvement The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the agency of UN that has been working on the issue of deforestation very closely. FAO frequently states that deforestation has fortunately decreased in the past few years but this decline is not even nearly enough and new solutions must be generated and successfully implemented. The report published by FAO in 2015 states that deforestation has decreased by 50 percent and many countries are implementing policies for better forest management using legislation. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) is United Nations’ collaborative initiative to implement what the name of the program suggests explicitly. It was established in 2008 by the cooperation of FAO, UNDP, and UNEP. The program offers financial incentives that the MEDCs generously provide to LEDCs in order for them to be able to decrease their amount of industrialization done by deforestation. Notably, the REDD continues to have an increasingly positive impact on Brazil and its decrease of deforestation since 2002. Furthermore, for more than 30 years, UNEP has played a leading role in developing and advancing the international agenda on biodiversity: catalyzing awareness on global environmental problems, building consensus on action to address those problems, and promoting and supporting conservation programs of a catalytic nature. Foremost among these efforts has been the strengthening of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to which UNEP provides the Secretariat and for which the Global Environment Facility (GEF) acts as the project financing body. Some of the examples of these projects are: Andean Páramo Project "or" PPA The project "Conservation of Biodiversity in the Moors of North and Central Andes, is a regional initiative that works to conserve and sustainable use of grasslands in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Food for the Future: Conserving Crop Wild Relatives As the name suggests, a crop wild relative (CWR) is a wild plant species related to a domesticated crop. For centuries crop wild relatives have provided farmers with the genetic material to improve the nutritional quality of crops, enhance productivity, and provide cultivated varieties with resistance to pests and diseases. Managing Water Wisely to Save Wetlands and Water birds Human civilizations have risen by the shores of seas, rivers, and wetlands, the latter being remarkably productive ecosystems, teeming with biodiversity for water birds and fish. Yet, where water has been abused and lost, wildlife and civilizations too have vanished. Now, more than ever, as human population increases and water demands grow, people and wildlife need secure and adequate sources of water for survival. Mitigating the Threats of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean (MTIASIC) The Project is funded by the Global Fund for the Environment (GEF) with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the lead implementing agency and the Centre for Agriculture and Bio-Sciences International (CABI) as the lead executing agency; and Caribbean Invasive Species Working Group (CISWIG) are some of the main groups actively tackling the issue of IAS in the Caribbean. Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity through Sound Tourism Development in Biosphere Reserves in Central and Eastern Europe The GEF Supported project will strengthen protection of globally significant mountain ecosystems in selected Biosphere Reserves of Central and Eastern Europe. This will be achieved through the development of new and innovative management systems with a special focus on tourism-related uses of these sites. Concurrently, awareness raising and capacity building systems will be developed and implemented, to ensure long term sustainable impacts. Tourism model initiatives and activities will be initiated to ensure distribution of returns for conservation purposes as well as to local stakeholders. Enhancing Conservation of the Critical Network of Sites of Wetlands Required by Migratory Water birds on the African/Eurasian Flyways The WOW project is funded by The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the African-Eurasian Migratory Water bird Agreement (AEWA) and a wide range of other donors. The project's goal is to strengthen capacity to plan and manage the conservation of migratory water birds and the critical sites along their flyways. Showcase projects under way in twelve countries (Estonia, Gambia, Hungary, Lithuania, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey and Yemen) are providing lessons learned and leading practices. Relevant UN Documents 44/228 UN Conference on Environment and Development, 22 December 1989. UN Environment Programme. Agenda 21. Combating Deforestation. UNEP. Resolution 2.1 on the topic of Deforestation. Treaties and Events United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries Programme The program is implemented through the collective contributions of the FAO, UNDP, and UNEP. It was initiated after the decisions of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regarding the Bali Action Plan and REDD at COP-13. The REDD+ Decision in Cancun, December 2010 The Cancun REDD Text differs from previous drafts of REDD+ texts in two major ways: The agreement states that REDD+ is about eliminating and reversing deforestation as much as it is concerned with reducing emissions. Secondly, the text encourages every single country to seek new methods through which we can extinguish the problem of deforestation. New York Declaration on Forests, September 2014 The declaration was spurred by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit. It is non-legally binding and is predominantly about actions taken against deforestation thus, Brazil, among the most closely related countries; not signing the treaty is quite incomprehensible. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)(informally known as Earth Summit), Rio de Janeiro, June 1992 The conference was hosted by the Brazilian government and saw a participation of as many as 172 governments. Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Statement of Forest Principles, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity was the resulting document of the conference. PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS Policies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, set forth by the UN REDD+ Programme, a program developing with the collective cooperation of many NGOs and member states, have been implemented around the world. Compared to the deforestation rate of 16 million hectares of forests being consumed in the 1990s, the deforestation rate has definitely slowed down due to the success of REDD. To mitigating climate change, REDD+ can support livelihoods, maintain vital ecosystem services and preserve globally significant biodiversity. Therefore, discussions on the linkages between REDD+ and biodiversity conservation increased and a number of research projects and policies were developed around the issue. Also, PES programs provide financial compensation for the protection of the environment and have even gone beyond preventing deforestation to promoting reforestation. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS There are several important ways in which humans can slow biodiversity loss, although there is no way to bring back the species that have already gone extinct. Habitat loss is a major issue. Human population is constantly growing, needing new areas to live in which reduces are of animal habitats. Many animals are going extinct because their habitats are constantly shrinking (for instance Bengal tiger). The world needs to establish more protected areas free of humans because this is the only way to stop further decline of many animal species. Stopping deforestation is an important factor in the solutions of this topic. Tropical rainforests are the areas of the richest biodiversity on our planet, providing a living environment for millions of different species. Rainforests also play important role in sinking carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, which is extremely helpful in the fight against climate change. Climate change and global warming is running out of control. Many plants and animals are finding it very hard to cope with the changes in climate, and many of them will forever perish from the face of our planet unless we prevent climate change and global warming. In order to tackle climate change our world needs international climate treaties that is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a global level. Reducing environmental pollution is a part of tackling the problem. Many plants and animals are finding it extremely hard to survive in a polluted environment. Pollution is not only happening on land but also, in our oceans having very negative impact on marine biodiversity. Animals and plants cannot thrive in the polluted environment. Protection native ecosystems from invasive species is another significant point. Invasive species often do serious damage to native ecosystems, and reduce the success rate of conservation efforts. Furthermore, biodiversity is a topic that needs to be further and deeper studied, in order to contain the necessary knowledge needed to protect animal and plant species from going extinct. USEFUL LINKS AND DOCUMENTS http://www.rainforestconservation.org/rainforest-primer/3-rainforests-in-perildeforestation/f-consequences-of-deforestation/3-loss-of-biodiversity-includinggenetic-diversity/ http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions http://www.tropical-rainforest-animals.com/biodiversity-loss.html http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/globalwarming/deforestation-overview/ http://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/deforestation.html