Download The Role of Florests in Climate Change Policy: Carbon and Social

The Role of Forests in Climate Change Policy:
Carbon and Social Dynamics
Warwick Manfrinato i
Luiz Fernando de Moura ii
Patrícia Gallo iii
Thais Megid iv
Background
This article is the result of gathering of information among local experiences in the
Amazon Basin, which seek to promote concepts of environmental services provided by
the Amazon Rainforest. It was produced for the purpose of advocating the need for the
international community to pay attention to the fact that biology (i.e. forests) is a key
component to maintaining the climate equilibrium. It also examines the importance of
tropical forests as water interfaces in the biogeochemistry cycles. This paper was
produced for a meeting in Trieste, at the Abdus Salam, International Center for
Theoretical Physics, where the seminar on “Climate Change Mitigation Measures in the
Agro-Forestry Sector and Biodiversity Futures” was held.
In the 80's, the scientific evidences related to the anthropogenic emissions of
greenhouse effect gases (GHG) and the global warming has stimulated the public
concerns in climate change problems and their future implications on the natural
environment. Reports provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC (2001) on the carbon emission/sequestration balance, point to an atmospheric
increase of 3,2 PgC per year. The fossil-fuel combustion and land-use change are the
main causes of this scenario, and represent approximately 75% of all emissions of GHG.
The deforestation is considered the most frequent land-use change in Brazil. Most of this
deforestation process is attributed to the expansion of pasturelands and agriculture. In
spite of the profits provided by agricultural activities, recent data suggest that the
conservation of forested areas is extremely important for climate balance. The natural
i
M.Sc. in Agronomy Engineering
Ph.D. in Wood Sciences
iii
B.Sc. in Forest Engineering
iv
Undergraduate student in Agronomy Engineering
ii
dynamics of any forest ecosystem guarantees the balance of carbon flows, as well as
the good health of other biogeochemical processes (e.g. water cycle, recycling of
nutrients, photosynthesis etc.). In this context, deforestation results in considerable
changes in the cycles of these elements and allows carbon stocks to quickly reach the
atmosphere, altering atmospheric composition.
The Amazon Rainforest plays an important role in the maintenance of rainfall
steadiness, in regions beyond the boundaries of the actual river basin. There are
evidences of the impact of hydrological dynamics in several regions of the planet, which
springs from the role the forest itself plays, through a complex and intricate relationship
of biogeochemical factors. Trade winds transport humidity from the Atlantic Ocean into
the Amazon Basin, which in turn enters into the dynamic of rain-falling and
evapotranspiration that allows for this humidity to reach the far western regions of the
basin. Together with other atmospheric air movements, this humidity is transported
south and northwards, and is responsible for sourcing the necessary rainfall to
agricultural regions of southern Brazil and other countries, as well as the entire
Caribbean regions, which in turn greatly determine climate conditions in Europe, by
means of Gulf-Stream air and ocean movements. All this may act in the atmosphere as
an analogous river movement, but in the form of humidity, something that could be
called “flying rivers”. The volatile organic compounds (VOC – i.e. organic molecules and
other types of particles produced in plant physiological processes), emitted by the forest
plants, act as nuclei for the atmospheric humidity, determining the quantity and quality of
rainfall in a given region. In the presence of forest fires, all the natural exchange
between vegetation and the atmosphere is disturbed, and bigger cloud condensation
nuclei are launched to the atmosphere, hindering the capacity of the physical system to
form clouds that are capable to generate rain. This process certainly reduces the
distribution of rain to places where water would normally be available (NOBRE, A.D.
2006 v ).
Research related to the physiology of the Amazon Forest demonstrates that
deforestation alters the frequency of rainfalls. The major consequences of this problem
become evident in the dry season, as observed in the 2005 Drought in the Amazon
River Basin. The importance of rainfalls in the Amazon region to the agricultural activities
v
Personal Communication at the XVI Congresso da Sociedade Botânica de São Paulo
www.botanicasp.org.br – Amazônia Motor Hidrológico
in the states of the Brazilian Center/South has also been corroborated (GREENPEACE,
2006) vi .
The causes of deforestation in the Amazon are similar to those observed in other
Brazilian ecosystems. For instance, in the Mata Atlântica, a large amount of
deforestation is attributed to agricultural expansion. Unfortunately, even though
historically in the South-East of Brazil there is evidence of natural resources losses, the
model is repeating itself in the Amazon basin and government policies appear to be
ineffective in controlling this unsustainable expansion. The Federal State funds allocated
to this purpose are not enough to implement effective mitigation measures. Moreover,
the obsolete policies currently in use can even stimulate deforestation. In fact, these
policies often result in misconceived land occupation, badly planned conservation areas,
lack of financing and technical support, and absence of environmental monitoring.
Our evaluation indicates that these inefficiencies of sustainable development policies
encouraged the Amazon State Government to create programmes to fight deforestation
and add value to the environmental services provided by the forest. For this purpose, the
Zona Franca Verde programme was implemented. This programme is intended to
promote sustainable development in the Amazon state by means of tropical forestry,
farming and fishing. The Zona Franca Verde is increasingly generating jobs and financial
income to Amazonian communities vii .
The Zona Franca Verde Programme
The Zona Franca Verde Programme is financially supported by private institutions and
carbon trading revenues. These funds allowed implementing a series of socialassistance measures in communities living in the Alto Solimoes and Jurua regions, and
the Maues municipality.
The programme fundamentals are based on a method that builds a “Matrix of
Sustainability Indexes”, which can in time be evaluated and monitored. In the first step of
this method, the community members are invited to evaluate and classify their current
situation in terms of quality of health, education and environment. In a subsequent step,
they are assisted to establish a Social, Environmental and Economic Investment
vi
www.greenpeace.org.br/amazonia/?conteudo_id=2328&sub_campanha=0
vii
www.sds.am.gov.br
Planning, related to the main issues pointed out in the previous step. The final step
corresponds to project implementation and monitoring, as well as demonstrating the
benefits provided by investments.
The Zona Franca Verde offers priority support to certified producers. Among the
certifiers recognized by the programme are: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the Solidarity
Commerce Label, and other world-wide environmental certifiers. Furthermore, the
programme facilitates the establishment of associations of producers, as a function of
their specific characteristics and needs.
It is recognized that programmes like the Zona Franca Verde can contribute to fight
deforestation, by inducing local communities to consider sustainable and economically
feasible land-use choices.
Deforestation Avoidance Mechanisms
The establishment of policies based on carbon trading revenues - especially those
obtained from avoided deforestation - is another alternative for reducing deforestation in
the Amazon Forest. Quantitative analyses of deforestation in the Amazon Forest show
that the deforestation rate in the Amazon state is lower than that calculated for the Legal
Amazon. This suggests that the environmental measures taken by the Amazon State
Government, which guarantee the provision of environmental services, should be
rewarded. In order to estimate the value of environmental services from deforestation
avoidance, the amount of Certified Emission Reductions provided by the conserved
forest could be quantified. A variety of methodologies are available for this quantification.
It is estimated that between 1990 and 2004, 600 million tonnes of CO2 emissions were
avoided in the Amazon state. In the carbon market, the current value of one tonne of
avoided CO2 emission ranges between US$ 15 and US$ 20. According to this
reasoning, the Amazon State Government could earn about US$ 3 billion in Certified
Emission Reductions from the avoided deforestation. These funds could be then reallocated to more intensive reforestation and forest conservation programmes (VIANA et
al, 2005 viii and 2006 ix ).
viii
Viana, V.; Cenamo, M.C; Manfrinato, W.M. Reducing emissions from deforestation in Amazonas, Brazil:
a State Government’s proposal for action. Paper presented at the 11th Conference of the Parties of the
Conclusion
Programmes that add value to forest conservation are essential to reduce deforestation
and mitigate climate change.
It is vital that, likewise the CDM mechanism, a broader system be conceived in order to
include other types of essentially global mechanisms of forest conservation or
restoration.
In this context, it is extremely important to prioritise the economic needs and involvement
of local communities. These programmes should offer to local communities new
alternatives for economic activities that do not result in deforestation.
The additional revenue from these new environmental markets could be the missing link
to a sustainable future that would start at the level of local communities, which are the
main vectors in forest conservation.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (cop 11-COP/MOP), held in Montreal, Canada,
on December, 28/11 - 09/12/2005. Discussion paper – 5 pg.
ix
Amazonas: initiative for Forest conservation and ecosystem. A draft (version 2.4) discussion paper
prepared by Virgilio Viana, State Secretary for Environment and Sustainable Development of the State of
Amazonas, Brazil; October 2006. ([email protected]), with collaboration of Hylton Philipson
([email protected]), Andrew Mitchell ([email protected]) of Global Canopy Program, Paulo
Moutinho of the Institute of Environmental Research of the Amazon ([email protected]), Mariano
Cenamo, of IDESAM ([email protected]), Antonio Nobre of INPA ([email protected]), Adilson
Vieira of GTA ([email protected]) and Juan Rueda of CNS ([email protected]).