our planet: forests nature at your service

8/6/2019 Our Planet: FORESTs Nature at your service

1/36OUR PLANET NATURE AT YOUR SERVICE 1

The magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme June 2011

FORESTS

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Zhou QiangTransorming

DevelopmenT

emmanuel Ze mekaWell WorTh paying or

ray C. anDersoniTs naTures Way

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2/36OUR PLANET NATURE AT YOUR SERVICE2

ZHOU QIANG : Transforming develomentic t c, t ct t d c-t, ct t-d ct

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EMMANUEL ZE MEKA : Well worth aying for

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YOLANDA KAKABADSE : Forests roduce green growthr w t d w ct t d cc w-w.

MARYANNE GRIEG-GRAN AND STEVE BASS : Economies grow on treest c tt t t g ec, t t d.

ANDREW W. MITCHELL : Invest in Natural Caitalpct tt dd t ct c d t t.

TENSIE WHELAN : Visit them, conserve themCt t t c ct w ct c t.

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Achim Steiner

Un UdSaGal ad exu D, UneP

fls

We need a strong ethic of conservation and in this role, WorldEnvironment Day is a powerful catalyst and voice. There mustbe limits on how and where we encroach on the natural worldfor without them habitats will be paved over, rivers ruined,corals bleached and forests unwittingly plowed for agriculture.

JAirAm rAmeSh

ms f e ad Fss, ida

This year marks a rst for the long standing relationship betweenIndia and the United Nations. For the rst time ever India willhost World Environment Day (WED). With a population of1.2 billion people, a rapidly growing economy and a diverse

cultural past, present and future there is enormous potentialfor India to catalyze and to champion sustainable development

nationally and internationally.

This years WED theme is Forests: Nature at Your Service. It

speaks to the intrinsic connection between livelihoods and humanwell being and the health of forests and forest ecosystems.

India has shown leadership by, for example, instituting a tree-planting system to combat land-degradation and desertication,including windbreaks and shelterbelts to protect agriculturalland. The recently launched Mission for Green India, as part of

National Action Plan on Climate Change, aims at qualitaitive aswell as quantitative improvement in forest cover over 10 millionhectares, with an estimated outlay of about US$10 billion over thenext 10 years.

India has successfully introduced projects that track the health

of the nations plants, animals, water and other natural resourcesincluding the Sunderbans the largest deltaic mangrove forest inthe world, and home to one of Indias most iconic wildlife speciesthe tiger.

Meanwhile the country is increasingly at the forefront of some of

the green shoots of a Green Economy that are emerging acrossthe globe.

From its manufacturing of solar and wind turbines to its Rural

Employment Guarantee Act which underwrites paid work formillions of households via investments in areas ranging from water

conservation to sustainable land management, foundations arebeing laid in India towards a fundamental and far reaching new

development path..

UNEPs recent report A Transition to a Green EconomyPathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication

underlines that such a transition not only possible but relevant todeveloping nations as it is to developed ones.

WED 2011 comes in advance of the UN Conference on

Sustainable Development 2012 or Rio+20. Its twin themes are theGreen Economy within the context of sustainable developmentand poverty eradication and an institutional framework for

sustainable development.

Rio+20 comes against a backdrop of rapidly diminishing naturaresources and accelerating environmental change from the lossof coral reefs and forests to the rising scarcity of productive land;from the urgent need to feed and fuel economies and the likely

impacts of unchecked climate change.

India is among a range of nations spotlighting dierent choicesthat represent an opportunity to full the promise of the 1992 RioEarth Summit in order to deliver development that meets the needof seven billion people, rising to nine billion by 2050.

One that delivers growth, greater equity and employment

opportunities: one that keeps humanitys footprint withinplanetary boundaries in order to ensure that Nature can remain at

our service for current and future generations.



Adopting a sustainable approach that both satises a societyseconomic dynamics and protects the ecological environmenthas become a major international challenge. We in the

province of Hunan, in central China, are determined to meetit, and wil l work with others across the world to do so.

Hunan is blessed with a high level of forest cover, along withan optimal climate and abundant rainfall but it faces

great environmental stresses with rapid industrialization and

urbanization. In recent years, it has actively responded to callsto manage forests so as to increase their role as carbon sinks

and partially counteract emissions of carbon dioxide coveredby the Kyoto Protocol. In line with the Chinese Governments

requirements and action to accelerate the transformation of thecountrys mode of development, Hunans basic principle andaim is green, low-carbon and sustainable economic and social

development. Accordingly, we comprehensively are promotinga new style of industrialization, agricultural modernization,

ZhoU QiAnG pt sct h pc d

unep C t et

TraNsformiNgDevelopmeNT



has greatly stimulated farmersenthusiasm: many treat treestenderly like grain seedlings and

are willing to plant them whereverthere is empty unused land.

We are also determined tostrengthen the environmental

protection of forest in cities tocounteract the eects of woodchopping and requisition of forest

land during rapid urbanization.In addition, the province ismaking the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan (CZT) city cluster aVienna Forest with tree cover

greater than 45% enactinglegislation to safeguard ZhaoshanMountain, the green heart of thecity cluster, and protecting the

core area by making it a pilotof a resource-conserving andenvironmentally-friendly society.

We are also attempting to turn theXiangjiang River into an OrientalRhine through comprehensive

treatment of both it and DongtingLake and by constructing a

Xiangjiang River Scenic Belt. Asa result, the CZTs core ecologicaldistrict will be in good custody,forest coverage will be increased

and the wetlands of the Yangtze,

Xiangjiang and other rivers willbe conserved and well-protected.

Continuous eorts in buildingGreen Hunan have yieldedremarkable achievements. Theforest land area of Hunan has

reached 193 million mu (about12.87 million hectares), with theaddition of a total 402 millioncubic meters of storage volume.

Forest cover amounts to over

50%, and it absorbs 60 milliontons of carbon dioxide annually.

At the same time, over 90% ofthe provinces surface water meetsdrinking water standards, and the

air of all its cities and prefectureshas achieved the Second National

Ambient Air Quality Standard.This ecological environmenthas attracted many well-knownenterprises both domestic and

foreign to invest in Hunan, inturn promoting rapid and soundsocial and economic development.

Achieving sustainable developmentcalls for in-depth cooperation andjoint eorts. These have globalsignicance. Over recent years,for example, the Indonesian

Government has adjusted itsdevelopment strategy to enhance

the protection of tropical

rainforests, and it plans to plant1.5 billion trees each year. Thishas enlightened our vision ofbuilding a Green Hunan. In

turn, we are willing to share theexperience we have gained in suchelds such as forest protectionand sustainable development with

Indonesia and other countriesand to further promote mutual

exchange and cooperation in

protecting the earth thecommon homeland of humanity.

and urbanization. We areaiming to construct a resource-saving and environmently-friendly society, focusing on

building a Green Hunan.

Leading the people to lovetrees and forests is an essentialpart of this. For over 30 years,

provincial leaders have been in theforefront both of voluntary treeplanting and of mobilizing peoplethroughout Hunan to engage in

it thus creating a multi-agentand multi-level aorestationprogramme. Zhangjiajie, a cityin northwestern Hunan, has held

the China International ForestProtection Festival with thetheme Green for the Earth and

Forests for Humanity for 14consecutive years. It is not onlyone of Chinas ten ecological

festivals, but the only one featuringforest protection as its theme.

Those who own some properties

and have greater perseverance,as the ancient Chinese ScholarMencius put it, tend to plan both

production and their livelihoodsin a systematic way. Since 2008

Hunan has been vigorouslypromoting the reform of the

system of collective forest rightsso as to protect the interests of

tree farmers and entice them intoboth planting trees and protecting

forests. As a result, they can allreceive forestry land use certicatesclarifying ownership and areencouraged to manage the land

under contracts so that they can

benet from the orderly cutting oftheir own trees. This undertaking

We are aiming to

construct a resource-saing

and environment-iendly

society, ocusing on

building a Green Hunan.

Leading the people to

love trees and orests is an

essential part o this.



Many studies such as UNEPs The Economics of Ecosystemsand Biodiversity have recently reported on the high ecosystemservice values associated with forests, especially tropical ones.

They have found that the values of water, carbon storage, soils,biodiversity maintenance and other forest ecosystem functionsdwarf the economic value of traditional forest products (primarilytimber). This leads to forests being valued at bill ions or, globally,trillions of dollars. Nevertheless, about 13 million hectares oftropical forests continued to be lost along with their valuablebiodiversity and other ecosystem services every year from 2000to 2010. How could this be?

There is a simple answer. While the ecosystem services cataloguedand assessed in recent reports, using sophisticated economictechniques, are indeed valuable, the markets for transferringpayments for them mostly remain in their infancy if, indeed theyexist at all. With the exception of the emerging global market for

carbon, there are no mechanisms for tropical countries to monetorizethe potential value of their forests. No one is lining up to pay themfor these services. So it is not surprising that forest owners (mostlycountries but sometimes also the private sector) decide to use theland on which those forests sit for what they perceive to be more

productive economic uses, such as agriculture.

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intended to be kept as forest, both

for production and for protection,in tropical countries. ITTOs mostrecent survey Status of TropicalForest Management 2011 ndsthat progress has continued over thepast ve years: well over three millionhectares a year has been added to thetotal area under SFM in the tropics.

However this still leaves over90% of the worlds tropical forestsunder poor or no management.Clearly, progress in SFM needs to

accelerate to meet our shared goalof ensuring the future of globaltropical forest resources.

UNEP as the key UNagency charged with promoting

environmental sustainability shares a special concern for tropicalforests and their ecosystem values,and they have a high prole onthe lead-up to next years Rio+20Earth Summit. It is worth recalling,however, that many stakeholders(especially the developing countries

where virtually all tropical forests

exist) were disappointed with the lackof new and additional resources

that the international community was expected to make available toimplement the non-binding forestprinciples agreed during the original1992 Earth Summit. In the nearlytwo decades since that historicevent many services providedby tropical forests includingecotourism, bio-prospecting, andmost recently REDD and carbon

have been identied as havingthe potential to reverse their

continued loss. Organizations likeITTO and UNEP must work with

governments, NGOs, the privatesector and other stakeholders to

develop fair and equitable marketsfor these and other forest products

and services. In this way, we canhelp to send the global community

a clear message that managingtropical forests sustainably is a viableland-use option provided that we

properly value and pay for the manygoods and services they produce.

ITTO an intergovernmentalorganization based in Yokohama,

Japan began life a quarter ofa century ago as a commodity

organization focused on promotingmarkets for sustainably produced

tropical timber. This objective is stillrelevant, but the Organization has

increasingly sought to help countriesmanage their forests sustainably

and add value to all tropical forestservices; it recognises that therevenue from any one service is

simply insucient to oset benetsfrom such competing land-uses asagricultural crops or oil palm, withtheir relatively short harvest cycles

and simpler management regimes.

Timber remains the single mostimportant way of generating revenue

from tropical forests. It has earnedtropical countries over $20 billionin export earnings annually overthe last decade, if both primary

and secondary processed products(like furniture) are taken intoaccount. Indeed the forest sectorscontribution to economic develop-ment is even greater when the

millions of jobs it creates and therevenues generated by domestic

timber markets are also considered.Sustainable forestry and sustainably

produced timber products musttherefore be a part of the solution

both to valuing tropical forestsappropriately and to reversing

their continuing clearance whilesimultaneously promoting economic

development. So ITTO continues toargue that it is essential that the new

funding schemes being formulatedto combat climate change (such asREDD+ or Reducing Emissionsfrom Deforestation and ForestDegradation) include sustainableforestry incorporating sustainabletimber production within theirapproved activities.

There is a wealth of experience some of it generated from ITTO

eld projects on how to producetimber and other forest products

sustainably by taking the ecologyof the tree species into account, using

technology to reduce the impact ofharvesting, undertaking appropriate

rehabilitation and/or reforestationafterwards, and providing market

information to ensure the resultingproducts are fairly priced, so that

funds can ow back to the forest.Of course corruption and poor governance which aect manysectors and countries need tobe tackled to allow the system to

work and to ensure funds are notmisappropriated: signicant workon tackling such problems has beenundertaken globally in recent years.

ITTO has tracked progress towards

sustainable forest management

(SFM) in the tropics since itsformation. One of the Organizationsrst studies (published as the 1989book No Timber without Trees;by Duncan Poore) found that onlya miniscule amount of the worldstropical forest was under sustainablemanagement in the late 1980s. Afollow up study ITTOs Status of

Tropical Forest Management 2005 found that, though there had been

improvements, the area under SFMwas still only around 5% of what was

Sustainable orestry and

sustainably produced

timber products must be

a part o the solution both

to aluing tropical orests

appropriately

and to reersing their

continuing clearance while

simultaneously promoting

economic deelopment.


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9/36

Biological diversity, non-timberforest products, sources of

ecosystem services, and spiritualsolace can all be found in them.

And now as never before,they are appreciated for their

contributions to climate changemitigation and adaptation.

Yet many of these values remaininvisible to policy-makers andto the general public, especially

when compared to quick protsfrom such alternative land-usesas commercial agriculture and

mining. Forests hold on publicand political imagination will be

tenuous as long as the economiccontributions of keeping them

standing remain hidden orundervalued. And bringing these

contributions to light often requires

changes in governance and markets.Researchers have long suspected

that communities in and aroundforests derive much of their

incomes from the directconsumption and sale of forest

products. A new database

representing the results of incomesurveys from more than 8,000households (www.cifor.cgiar.org/pen), conrms that hunch:on average, 24 percent of theirtotal income comes from forest

products. Wood for fuel andconstruction, bushmeat, fruits,

nuts, honey, and mushroomsfor food and a wide varietyof products used for medicines,

handicrafts, ornamentation, andother uses all contribute.

Unfortunately, very little of thatincome is captured in national

statistical surveys or accounts, andso it remains invisible to nationalpolicy-makers. Survey instrumentsused by national statistical ocesneed to be rened to illuminatethe important contribution that

forests make to the incomes ofsome of the worlds most poor

and vulnerable communities.

Another reason for this invisibilityis that much of the income is atleast technically illegal and asignicant proportion is paid inbribes. When negotiations began

several years ago on an agreementbetween the Government of

Cameroon and the EuropeanCommission to ensure that timber

exported to the European Union

was legally sourced, it was assumedthat timber produced informally forthe domestic market was smaller

than the formal sector share.Research conducted by CIFOR

revealed that in fact this is aboutfour times larger than previously

thought, providing employment andincome to some 45,000 people.

Crackdowns on illegal logging

tend to target the little guys withthe chainsaws rather than the

With

13 million

hectares o orestslost eery year,

the clock is ticking

pretty ast.

OUR PLANET NATURE AT YOUR SERVICE 9


10/36

big ones with the bank accounts.Everyone would be better o iftimber produced informally forthe domestic market were brought

into an appropriate regulatoryframework that safeguards both

the environmental sustainability ofthe resource and the livelihoods of

local producers. Professionalizationrather than criminalization

provides an alternative way forward.

Market-based mechanisms toprotect forests have a role, buthave not proven sucient bythemselves to reverse deforestationand degradation. Certicationschemes such by the ForestryStewardship Council recognizeproducers who take the right valuesinto account in their practices.

But industry leaders complain that

most people appear not yet readyto pay a price premium reectingthe costs of protecting those values.Purchasing decisions that reectconcerns about the sustainability of

the worlds forests are driven moreby the reputational sensitivities of

retailers than by the preferencesof ultimate consumers. Moreattention should be given to policy

interventions to level the playingeld for sustainable producers.

Logged-over degraded forestscontinue to be prime targetsfor conversion to other uses despite the richness of carbon,biodiversity, and sources of locallivelihood (such as bushmeat) theyoften contain. More informed

and accountable spatial planningprocesses should target agricultural

expansion to genuinely degraded

areas, and recognize the rightsof current resource users to the

benets both of existing uses andof those that may be created by

REDD and other payments forecosystems services (PES) schemes.

The potential of using suchschemes which depend on aclear seller of the environmental

service in question to savethe forest is compromised by thelack of clarity and conict over

who owns it . CIFOR researchhas illuminated the extent of

such barriers to operationalizinggreen economy tools in conditions

typical of most tropical forests. Itestimates that only about half of

the forests in the Brazilian Amazonthat would be economically

viable for PES-type payments

to reduce forest-based climateemissions are not compromisedby such land tenure chaos.

The fragility of support for

protecting forests in the absenceof hard evidence of their economic

value is perhaps best illustrated by

recent debates about how to achievefood security. These debates tendto characterize forests as a land-use

option competing in a zero-sumgame with agricultural expansion

and not to highlight theirimportant roles in contributing to

food security, both in providingsubsistence and cash income

and in supporting sustainableagricultural productivity. Forest

goods are a crucial component ofrural livelihoods: 80 percent of

wood harvested in Sub-SaharanAfrica is for energy; bushmeat

harvested from Congo Basin forests

is equivalent to the productionof the Brazilian beef industry.

And forests critical ecosystemservices to agriculture as inmaintaining hydrological ows andpollination services would beimpossible or expensive to replace.

Even those who understand theneed to maintain forests as part of

integrated landscape management

strategies often focus exclusively onincreasing agricultural productivityas a way of taking pressure othem. Such productivity increasesare certainly necessary, and

desirable for other reasons, butare not in themselves sucientto reduce this pressure. Indeed,research has shown that, dependingon relative prices and markets,

increasing agricultural productivitycan actually create incentives to

accelerate forest clearance. So theseeorts must go hand-in-hand withreform of forest governance to alignincentives for forest protection.

So as we mark this International

Year of Forests, governments andother policy-makers must recognizethe true value that forests hold forlocal communities, countries andthe entire world. With 13 million

hectares of them lost every year,the clock is ticking pretty fast.

Eeryone would be better

o i timber produced

inormally or the domestic

market were brought intoan appropriate regulatory

amework that saeguards

both the environmental

sustainability o the

resource and the lielihoods

o local producers.

OUR PLANET NATURE AT YOUR SERVICE10


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www.uep.org/pubcatosbs

Integrated Assessment o Black Carbon and TroposphericOzone Summary or Decision Makers

This report aims to provide science-based advice on action to reduce theimpacts o the harmul air pollutants black carbon, tropospheric ozoneand its precursors. The report is a comprehensive analysis o driverso emissions, trends in concentrations, and impacts on climate, humanhealth and ecosystems o these pollutants, which are oten reerred to asshort-lived climate orcers as they have a short lietime in the atmosphererelative to carbon dioxide..

Towards a GREEN Economy Pathways toSustainable Development and Poverty Eradication

This report aims to debunk several myths and misconceptions about theeconomics o greening the global economy, and provides timely and practicalguidance to policymakers on what reorms they need to unlock the productiveand employment potential o a Green Economy. The report makes a compellingeconomic and social case or investing 2 per cent o global GDP in greening 10central sectors o the economy in order to shit development and unleash publicand private capital ows onto a low-carbon, resource-ecient path.

UNEP Year Book 2011 Emerging Issues inour Global Environment

The UNEP Year Book aims to strengthen

the science-policy interace. It presentsrecent developments and new insightso particular interest to policymakers.The 2011 Year Book looks at: progressin environmental governance; the eectso continuing degradation and loss othe worlds ecosystems; impacts on theatmosphere leading to continuing climatechange; harmul substances and hazardouswaste that aect human health andthe environment; environment-relateddisasters and conicts; and unsustainableuse o resources.

High Mountain Glaciers and Climate Change Challenges to Human Livelihoods and Adaptation

Compiled by UNEP in partnership with scientists and research centres rom around the world,including the Norwegian Polar Institute and Norut Alta, this report underlines a clear generaltrend o melting glaciers linked to a warming climate. The report points to consequencessuch as a reduction in seasonal water availability in dry areas; aster rate o melting o manylow-lying, smaller glaciers, which are oten crucial water sources in drylands; an increasingrate o glacial lake outburst oods in many countries over the last 40 years.

2010 UNEP Annual Report

Providing an overview o UNEPs activities in 2010, this report looks at a broadrange o activities carried out by the organization as it ollows its mandateto provide environmental leadership and promote sustainable development. TheAnnual Report catalogues the beginning o a new, strategic and transormationaldirection or UNEP as it began implementing its Medium-term Strategy (MTS) or2010-2013 across six areas: climate change; disasters and conicts; ecosystemmanagement; environmental governance; harmul substances and hazardouswaste; resource eciency, sustainable consumption and production.

Enhancing Global Competitivenessthrough Sustainable EnvironmentalStewardship

Subhash C. Jain and Ben L. Kedia (Edward Elgar)

This book examines the impact that climate changeand other environmental actors have on business. It isa collection o research that suggests that companiesthat are proactive in mitigating their exposure toclimate change risks will generate new proftable

opportunities, and gain competitive advantage overtheir rivals in a carbon-constrained uture.

Climate Action 2010-2011

Climate Action provides an essential platorm orgovernments, international opinion leaders, industryexperts, academics and environmentalists to debatethe business case or sustainable development and

carbon neutrality. Climate Action 2010-11 assistsbusinesses and organizations to reduce theircarbon ootprint, highlighting that environmentally

responsible operations canalso be proftable. It oersinsight into the pressingissues surrounding climatechange and sustainabilitywhile presenting practical,potentially money saving,actions that can betaken to reduce carbonootprints.

Global Environmental Forest Policies An International Comparison

Constance McDermott, Benjamin Cashore and PeterKanowski (Earthscan)

This book provides a uniquely detailed and systematiccomparison o environmental orest policies andenorcement in 20 countries worldwide, coveringdeveloped, transition and developing economies. Thegoal is to enhance global policy learning and promote

well-inormed and precisely tuned policy solutions, which it is hoped will lead togreater international accountability or orest stewardship.



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Achieving reductions in carbon

emissions from forests may be theraison dtre of Reducing Emissions

from Deforestation and ForestDegradation (REDD+). However, asis widely agreed, it also presents anopportunity to address many of the

challenges related to the underlyingdrivers of global tropical forestloss. It is therefore, a potentially

powerful policy instrument forinuencing how tropical forests aremanaged and valued. Yet, despite

this apparent win-win option or perhaps because of it there

remains animated debate on how theREDD+ mechanism should be

designed and implemented.

One explanation lies in itscomplexity. Every country has its

unique institutional architectureand capacity, political commitmentand forest-resource endowment.

All are looking at how, through

REDD+, they can balance socialand environmental goals, while

reducing greenhouse gas emissions.Each nations uniqueness calls

for understanding the relativeimportance of the dierentdrivers of deforestation and the

roles that diverse stakeholdersplay in them. There are indeed

no simple answers or solutions tosuch issues.

Unqutunty

Dr. yemi kAterere

hd,un-reDD p sctt



13/36

At the same time, there are mountingexpectations that REDD+ can equallybenet all forests, constituenciesand countries and that thesebenets could be substantial. Somebelieve, for example, that it oersunprecedented funding for forest andbiodiversity conservation. Recent

broadening of the scope of theREDD+ mechanism from the original

objectives of reducing emissions fromdeforestation and forest degradationto include conserving and enhancing

forest carbon stocks and sustainablymanaging forests adding the +to REDD+ is seen as oeringmore countries the possibility ofparticipating and beneting. Butreconciling all these expectations

will be challenging, especially as in

some national contexts REDD+might not be as low-cost as it wasonce credited to be: this is particularlyso where small-scale farmers may notbe operating in a well-functioningmarket system, and may be unwillingto take the potentially huge risk of

giving up their current income streamsfor future carbon payments that no onecan yet guarantee. Add the concerns

that REDD+ funding still falls short

of what would be required to reduceforest-based emissions, and we areleft with a mechanism that is likely torequire dicult trade-os.

Highlighting such challenges tothe mechanism is both healthy and

important, as it is forcing thoseinvolved in the early stages of

designing and implementing it tothink through the full range of related

issues. Indeed, it is thanks to suchopenness that the overarching valueof the mechanism is holding strong,

backed by early lessons emergingfrom countries developing REDD+

strategies. To make progress, it isimportant that all stakeholders are

prepared to abandon long establishedbusiness as usual models.

REDD+ has brought forests back to

centre stage, forcing a debate and

a re-examination of issues relatedto Sustainable Forest Management.

It has, for example, moved fasterand garnered more consensus than

virtually any other mitigation optionin the UN Framework Conventionon Climate Change (UNFCCC)negotiations over the past two

years.

The REDD+ mechanism has alsomobilized signicant fast startnancial resources, which arefacilitating a fresh look at thechallenges associated with how

forests can be managed in a way thatcan help reduce global emissions

while beneting people and forestecosystem services. It is eectivelyenabling countries to drill deeperand dene the role of forests in theirnational economic development,

the amount of forests they need topreserve, and the transformation oftheir economies to low carbon.

In forest-rich countries, for example,it can be the catalyst for negotiating

a balance between keeping forestsintact and promoting economic dev-elopment through land concessionsfor large-scale rubber, palm oil andsugar plantations with signicant

employment, earnings and exportpotential. It can similarly catalyze a

critical look at the dicult trade-osgovernments have to make between

various policy options.

REDD+ could also provideopportunities for synergies betweenenvironmental and social benets.It has provided a platform to many

Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities, enablingthem to participate at the nationaland international levels. While

initial progress may not have metexpectations, this is facilitatingdialogue and trust-building betweenthem, the state and civil societyorganizations.

Ultimately, the issues critical to

REDD+s success are those which

countries would have to deal within achieving sustainability, whetheror not the mechanism existed.

Irrespective of whether a nationever trades a single ton of carbon, it

needs a national debate about whereits forests t into national economicdevelopment policies: REDD+ isproving a critical catalyst for such

a debate.

The launch of the REDD+ conceptin 2008 was timely and visionary.

The design of the mechanismand the Cancun agreements

are a measure of the level ofthe international communityscommitment. It therefore presents

a unique opportunity to respond tothe challenge of reducing carbon

emissions from forests whilelimiting any negative impacts on

both the environment and peoplethat might result from its design

and implementation.

The UN-REDD Programme

is the United Nations

collaborative initiative on

Reducing Emissions rom

Deorestation and Forest

Degradation (REDD+) in

developing countries. The

Programme was launchedin 2008 and builds on the

convening role and technical

expertise o the Food and

Agriculture Organization o the United Nations (FAO),

the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and

the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The UN-REDD Programme supports nationally-led REDD+

processes and promotes the inormed and meaningul

involvement o all stakeholders, including Indigenous Peoples

and other orest-dependent communities, in national and

international REDD+ implementation.




sthnckn

Te relentless

search or uel

puts enormous pressure

on orests:

many o Indias

700 million people

collect their wood

om them.

Growing up in India, one of my

earliest childhood memories waswatching my grandmother by thesmoky chulha the three-sidedrudimentary clay stove, that still

serves as the hearth in millionsof rural South Asian homes. Not

that I stayed there long: all thesmoke and soot the inecientstove produced ensured I never

spent more than the odd minutein my grandmothers kitchen.

This picture from my past is stilltodays reality across South Asia

and large tracts of the developingworld. Approximately 1.6 billionpeople worldwide still lack

access to electricity and some 3billion still use inecient stovesthat rely on traditional biomassfuels such as rewood, cropresidues and dung for cooking.

The stoves ineciencies occurat many levels. Their mud bodies

are poor insulators, and so devourmore fuel than necessary. And the

volume of air cannot be controlled:too little produces thick smoke; toomuch cools the ames. This placesa big social burden on the shouldersof women and endangers their and their childrens health.

Again, I can still vividly recall mygrandmothers average day, much of

it spent fretting over her fuel supply.She depended on cow dung that

had to be painstakingly gathered,then mixed with hay and driedinto small pizza-shaped patties. Ina sense she was lucky: in parts ofSouth Asia women have to collect

rewood from distant junglesand are regularly at risk of being

molested, hurt and injured whenthey leave the safety of their homes.

Women in Nepals hil ls, forexample, spend almost 2.5 hoursper day collecting fodder, grass and

rewood. Deforestation means theyhave to go further aeld, increasingtheir burden by almost 1.1 hoursa day, giving them less time to

devote to agriculture, raising theirchildren or earning income.

The relentless search for fuel putsenormous pressure on forests:many of Indias 700 million people

collect their wood from themDeforestation in neighbouring

Pakistan is among the highestin the world: many activists

believe it was a critical factor inaggravating 2009s devastatingoods, which killed nearly2,000 people, displaced almost18 million and caused billions

of dollars in damage.

SAtinDer BinDrA

Dct,unep D Cct

d pc it



The inecient stoves emissionsof soot, black carbon particles, iseven more devastating. The World

Health Organization estimateshousehold exposure to it causes

1.6 million premature deaths peryear, predominantly in women and

children. Studies in India showthat women who have cooked on

biomass stoves for years exhibita higher prevalence of chronic

lung disease than those who havenot. Black carbon also causes or

compounds pneumonia, bronchitis,cataracts, heart disease, high bloodpressure and low birth weight.

And the eect of the chulhasgoes beyond hearth and home.As the smoke escapes outdoors and undergoes chemicaltransformations in the presence ofsunlight it forms AtmosphericBrown Clouds (ABCs) of particlesand ozone gas. In Asia alone,the particles in ABCs can lead

to an additional 500,000 deathsannually, while the ozone causes

billions of dollars of crop damage.

Black carbon also producesbetween 10 to 40 per cent of global

warming, as the particles warmthe air like tiny heat-absorbingblack sweaters. And when they

settle on snow and ice they darkenit, causing it to melt much faster.

But change is under way. Much

more ecient stoves are beingdeveloped. A recent World Bank

study in Rwanda shows that at a cost of just a few extradollars they can cut charcoaluse from 0.51 kg to 0.33 kg perperson per day: in a year a family

could save about US$84 in fuelcosts a substantial amount whenaverage annual incomes in easternand central African countriesare only US$300 to US$370.In India host to this yearsWorld Environment Daycelebrations UNEP hasbeen involved in an excitingproject called ``Surya(Sunlight),

which is providing a rural area

of approximately 100 squarekilometres and 50,000 people

with cleaner cookstoves. It willdocument the impact on airquality, climate, and health, using

mobile phones and advancedNASA technology and plansto use this data to try to obtaincarbon credit osets to helpspread the use of the stoves.

Last September, UNEP joinedthe Global Alliance for Clean

Cookstoves launched by USSecretary of State Hilary Clinton.

The US Government has providedUS$50 million in seed moneyfor the project, which hopes toprovide 100 million clean burning

stoves to villages in Africa, Asiaand South America by 2020.

A study published in The Lancetindicates that a ten-year program

to introduce 150 million lowemission stoves in India alone

could prevent about two millionpremature deaths. And UNEPeld studies show that reducing

the emissions of just one ton ofblack carbon can slow global

warming as much as cutting250 to 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide.Unlike carbon dioxide, which

stays in the atmosphere formany years, soot falls outin just a few weeks.

Improving cookstoves must now

become public policy. Millions ofcleaner stoves have been distributed

free in India over the past 20 yearsthrough government-led campaignsbut limited information on theirbenets has left many unused.Institutionalizing the switchto green chulhas must become

a national priority, through apublic awareness campaign that

highlights health safety, air quality,climate change mitigation andultimately the creation of a Green

Economy and overall economicdevelopment for rural populations

in India and around the world.

My grandmother lived to the ripeold age of 97 and while shebucked the trend by not developingany lung disease her life aroundthe hearth left her with a bad back.Now Indian women, the custodians

of the chulha, have a chance both

to improve their lives and thestate of the world as a whole.

GawaSa/Stopoto


16/36

rAy c. AnDerSon

d d C,itc, ic.

When I speak to audiences I often

ask everyone to close their eyes andpicture in their mind a place of peace

and repose, tranquility and creativity,the place that makes them feel thehappiest their perfect comfortzone. Then, with their eyes still

closed, I ask those who are picturingsomewhere outdoors to raise their

hands. And then I ask them to opentheir eyes and look around.

What do they see? A room full of

raised hands and a lot of surprised

expressions. Nearly everyone thoughtthat only they were imagining a

forest, a meadow, or a sparkling

river. In fact almost everyone wasdoing so. In hundreds of cases, with

audiences all over the world, it hasalways been the same.

So what does nature have to say toa company like ours the worldslargest manufacturer of commercialcarpet tile about the way weconduct our commerce and designour products? Quite a bit, as itturns out as I explain in my book

Business Lessons from a Radical

Industralist, where I tell the storyin full.

We asked ourselves How does naturedesign its own carpets and oors?and ve years ago our design team

held a workshop with Janine Benyus,the President of the BiomimicryInstitute and a UNEP Champion

of the Earth. She introduced theconcept of biomimicry usingnature as a design mentor and asource of inspiration challengingus to integrate natures principlesinto design concepts for carpet tiles.

As a result, our lead product designer,

David Oakey, sent our designersout into the forest to see what they

itntu wy



17/36

could learn about how nature woulddesign a oorcovering. They werebefuddled at rst, thinking they

were being sent out to copy owersand leaves but then discoveredsomething far more interesting.

What they came back with wasorganized chaos. No two square

yards of forest oor are the same, yetthey all blend perfectly together in

a harmonious whole. They realizedthat there is no perfect ower andthere is no solid color: its just a

diverse system characterized bythe word entropy.

They then set out to design amodular carpet the same way. In

nature, each module is slightlydierent in pattern and color, andthat was the whole challenge. It wasa challenge for the designers to let

go of the aesthetics of perfectionand sameness. They also needed

help from our engineers. Howcould you make it so that, in oneproduction run, the color and design

of every single tile would come outslightly dierent?Suddenly we were bringing designers

and engineers together to make ithappen, something that had not

been done before. The problem was solved, and thus began a newproduct line named in honor of

that afternoon stroll through theGeorgia forest Entropy.

Designing carpet in natures wayhas many advantages. We canactually lay the tiles randomly

instead of in a monolithic fashion.We found that it is easy to make

repairs, because the tiles do notmatch each other exactly. It didntmake any dierence if it looked

slightly dierent; indeed, it wasbetter if it did!

O-quality practically vanished;inspectors could not nd defectsamong the deliberate imperfection

of making no two tiles alike. And itpractically eliminated installation

waste. Now, every tile can nd aplace in a symphony of color andpattern, all dierent, all harmoniousand pleasing, with none having to bediscarded as wrong. Dierent dyelots now merge indistinguishably,

making it no longer necessary tokeep extra tiles from each lot in case

they were needed. And the user cannow rotate tiles to equalize wearthe way we rotate tires on our car to

extend their useful life.

Similarly, while repairing traditionalcarpet requires calling in specially

trained professionals, the randomnature of Entropys design allowsfor much more exibility. So, for

instance, if a tile in a hotel room isdamaged, the housekeeping stacan replace it not worrying about

which way to lay it making theroom ready again in minutes.

So how was all this received by the

market? In a word, spectacularly!Entropy has become the biggest

selling product in the shortestperiod of time in Interfaces entire

history. And thats not only becauseof the many technical advantages

derived from emulating nature. Italso has everything to do with that

perfect place I ask my audiencesto imagine.

Natures designs are organic,

says David Oakey. Natural shapesdepend upon their functions. They

are not linear. They are not based onlines and are therefore not limited

by them. So the tiles look beautifulon a oor for the same reasons thata carpet of leaves, twigs, earth,and rocks looks beautiful on the

oor of a forest. In other words,it reproduces that perfect place weall imagine when we close our eyes

and subliminally brings outdoorsindoors. No wonder it sold so well!

When you build your design around

a natural model, good things happenand people become excited. We

sometimes say, Its natures way,referring to the right way of doing

something, and Its only human.referring to making a mistake andthats a key dierence between how

we and nature do things. Naturelearns from mistakes and evolves a

better answer or else. We humanscan nd it hard to break free of thestatus quo, even though it may beleading us to bankruptcy or evenkilling us. How long, under naturesrules, would an organism that refused

to learn survive?

The responsibility of industrialists isto nd ways to work with what wevebeen given by nature, emulating itshighly eective ways to: eliminatethe very concept of waste; make what

we need from available, renewable

resources; close the loop; and feedour production lines to make ourproducts with renewable or recycled

raw materials. In the long term

and perhaps much sooner than that there is no other way.

No two

square yards

o orest oor

are the same,

yet they all blend

perectly together in

a harmonious whole.




UNEP undertakes a wide range o activities in promoting and acilitating the development and uptake o clean

technology. Here are a couple o recent examples. For urther examples o UNEPs climate change work visit:

www.uep.org/ute/30Was

UneP a w

Patg a seedor cmate protecto

Btc/UneP

WHAT UNEP DID:

The CASCADe programme is implemented by

UNEP and the UNEP Risoe Centre and supported

by FFEM (the Fonds Franais pour l Environnement

Mondial). In Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic

Republic o Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali and

Senegal, the programme has been helping to

generate carbon credits by providing technical

support and training to project developers,

communities and national climate change

institutions. CASCADe has provided assistance to

more than 20 projects in community reorestation,

commercial orestry, ecient cooking stoves and

sh smokehouses, and bioenergy, and has avoideddeorestation in seven Arican countries.

THE BIG PICTURE:

The success o CASCADes pilot projects provides

a ramework or the programmes expansion into

other countries to urther strengthen national

regulatory rameworks or carbon nance

projects. UNEP is planning a ollow-up programme

that will support a range o projects to open up

opportunities or Arican participation in the CDMand voluntary carbon markets.

THESOLUTION: The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM),

established under the Kyoto Protocol,

allows industrialized countries to receive

carbon credits or nancing carbon

mitigation and sequestration projects

in less-developed countries. Since 2007

UNEPs CASCADe Carbon Finance or

Agriculture, Silviculture, Conservation

and Action against Deorestation has

been opening up opportunities or Arican

participation in the CDM and voluntary

carbon markets.

THE PROBLEM:

Unsustainable use o orests causes approximately

17 per cent o greenhouse gas emissions globally.

In Arica, around 600 million people rely on orests

and woodlands or their livelihoods. Despite the

rapid growth o carbon nance transactions,

projects in sub-Saharan Arica are oten ignored

because o a misconception that the region has

limited potential.




Maps or a Greeer REDD+

WHAT UNEP DID:

The UN-REDD Programme is a partnership

between FAO, UNDP and UNEP, that helps

developing countries to prepare and implement

national REDD+ strategies and mechanisms.

Through the programme, UNEP provides

nancial, technical and strategic support and

works closely with geographic inormation

system specialists in national and provincial

institutions in many developing countries, to

gather and collate inormation which provides

spatial analysis tools in support o REDD+

strategy development.

THE BIG PICTURE:

At the global level, the UN-REDD Programme

supports countries in their eorts to integrate

multiple benets into their REDD+ strategies and

development plans. Replicable initiatives, such

as the spatial analysis activities, help to ensure

that orests continue to provide multiple benets

or livelihoods, conserve the planets biodiversity,

and act as important carbon stores.

THESOLUTION: Among other things, the UN-REDD

Programme helps countries recognize and

tap the potential o REDD+ via technical

support. One o the key tools it oers is a

carbon mapping capability that shows the

carbon stored in ecosystems, highlighting

areas o signicant biodiversity and ecosystem

services importance, and threats to orests

themselves. Used together with other decision

support tools, it helps countries to develop

national REDD+ strategies that maximize the

development potential that orests provide.

THE PROBLEM:

REDD+ (reducing emissions rom deorestation

and orest degradation) is a mechanism aimed at

creating a nancial value or the carbon stored in

orests, oering incentives or developing countries

to reduce emissions rom orested lands and invest

in low-carbon paths to sustainable development.

But there is insucient awareness o the potential

o REDD+, and countries oten lack the tools to

implement it.



Protectg ad vaugmagroves Guea Bssau

Mangrove orests are made up o trees, shrubs, palms

or erns which have adapted to grow in salt water in

the tropics and sub-tropics. At the boundary between

land and sea, they are important or the livelihoods o

the communities that live in their vicinity and provide

valuable ecosystem services such as the protection o

coastlines rom storm surges and erosion; stabilization

o land by sediment trapping; maintenance o water

quality; sequestration o carbon dioxide; ood security

rom subsistence and commercial sheries; honey;building materials; traditional medicines; and revenue

rom tourism. These ecosystem services translate

into direct economic benets and the UNEP World

Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)

estimates that mangroves are worth up to US$500,000

per km2 per year.

The 2010 UNEP-WCMC World Atlas o Mangrove

estimated Guinea Bissaus mangrove cover to be close to

3,000 km2, the second highest cover in the region ater

Nigeria. The mangroves o Guinea Bissau are particularly

important or biodiversity (including 180 bird species,40 terrestrial mammal species, ve marine turtle species,

hippopotami, manatees, dolphins and dwar crocodiles)

and sheries (providing revenue and ood security rom

oysters, crabs, shrimps and nsh), with about 70% o

national sh production linked to mangroves. However,

they are threatened by over-exploitation as well as

clearance or agriculture and urban expansion.

In order to protect these natural resources, the

Government o Guinea Bissau has created a system o

protected areas that covers 12% o the country. Theseinclude the mangrove-rich Parc Naturel des Mangroves

du Rio Cacheu and the Parc National des iles d Orango.

However, until now there has been low capacity to

monitor the parks and enorce protection due to a lack o

sta and equipment to stop illegal poaching and logging

in the protected areas.

UNEP, through the Spanish Lieweb project, is working

with the International Union or Conservation o Nature

(IUCN) to improve the management o the parks. This

includes training and outreach work with governmentrangers and local shing communities who will

participate in park management.

UNEP has already supported IUCN to purchase three

motorboats as well as GPS and radio equipment which

are indispensable or enorcement o park regulations.

Satellite data-sets showing historical as well as current

mangrove coverage and rates o deorestation have

also been provided to local governments and NGOs.

By protecting the mangroves against deorestation and

over-exploitation, important biodiversity and sheries

resources will be conserved or the uture well-being olocal populations.

Alongside the eorts to bolster monitoring and

enorcement, UNEP is also working to economically

value the mangrove resources o Guinea Bissau and the

ecosystem services they provide. This will provide the

economic evidence and rationale or policy-makers and

local communities to protect these important orests. By

measuring carbon storage in mangrove orests it could

be possible to develop mangrove projects or REDD+ and

thus access international carbon unding or mangroveconservation in Guinea Bissau.

Gabriel Grimsditch



Uderwater teDeep Green behaves just like a kite, only it fies not in the wind but tidal currents. Attached to theocean foor by a long tether, it glides rom side to side. The water fowing past it spins a turbine underits wing and generates electricity. Among the advantages it has over other tidal power concepts isincreased power rom a smaller package, and a capacity to harness power rom slow moving waters.Its still a prototype but its estimated that a Deep Green system mounted along UK shores couldgenerate enough green electricity or approximately 4 million UK households every year.www.mesto.com/

Wd-powered car crosses AustraaThe Wind Explorer is the rst electric vehicle to cross a continent powered by the wind. The light-weight vehicle crossed Australia, rom the Indian Ocean to the Pacic Ocean4,800 kilometresin 18 days. Piloted by German extreme sportsmen Dirk Gion and Stean Simmerer, the 200 kgcar set three new records: the rst time a continent had been crossed by a vehicle powered bywind, the longest overall distance covered by an exclusively wind-powered land vehicle, and thelongest distance covered in 36 hours. The Wind Explorer was powered by lithium-ion batteries,recharged by a portable wind turbine whenever wind conditions permitted.

www.wd-exporer.com

Fu reccabe aptopRoughly 2 million tons o electronics became obsolete in the US in 2005, but less than 380,000tons o electronics were recycled. Hence, the motivation behind the Bloom Laptop was to reducethe amount o e-waste going to landll. The Bloom laptop is ully recyclable in two minutes, via 10easy steps no screwdriver required. All the components can be separated easily rom the rameor proper recycling. Its the brainchild o a group o mechanical engineering students at StanordUniversity, USA, and Finlands Aalto University. Their project won the students an inventor o themonth award rom design sotware giant Autodesk.http://habtat.com

Tue bue gows are tru greeThe blue graduation gown o the University o North Carolina has gone green. With theencouragement o eco-conscious students who preer a gown that might only be wornonce in a lietime to be made rom recycled materials, award-winning ashion designerAlexander Julian, an alumnus o the University, worked with manuacturers Oak Hall Cap& Gown, to create the rst designer graduation gown. In addition to adopting the perectCaliornian blue, the garment is made rom 100 per cent post-consumer recycled plasticbottles. Twenty-three plastic bottles are used to make each gown. The label is printeddirectly onto the garment rather than a separate label.http://ucews.uc.edu/cotet/vew/4310/75/

Greeest cotaer shps ever butShipping company Maersk has announced that it will be buying ten o the worlds largest, mostecient container ships ever built. Curiously, the ships will be both the largest and greenest shippingvessels ever to set sail. They are more environmentally riendly due to the economy o scale theycarry more cargo, so the emissions per container are less. These huge ships produce 50 per centless CO

2than the industry standard or Asia-Europe trips and consume 35 per cent less uel per

container. The ships will be 400 m long, 59 m wide, 73 m tall, and carry 16 per cent more than thecurrent standard.http://habtat.com/

Surboards Made From Ocea TrashSurer Kevin Cunningham has come up with one o the coolest ways to recycle ocean pollution.Sick o all the debris on his local beaches, he decided to make surboards out o it. Fragments ohuman-made debris such as plastic and glass are recycled and reused in the skin o the surboard,plastic bags are woven into a strengthening cloth; plastic bottles are cut up and reassembled intons; and there are many other possibilities to be explored, says Cunningham. His company Spirare

Surboards is producing a limited series o boards made rom reclaimed debris or public exhibition,to be ollowed by a line o 100 boards that will be sold as custom orders.http://spraresurboards.com/

pdus




So, if it isnt working for all thesepeople, animals and natural

resources, how much longer will it

continue to work for the lucky andrelatively few whose lifestyles are

the least sustainable?

The answer is: not long at all.WWFs Living Planet Report

shows that wealthy nations continueto depend on resources from other

countries, contributing to analarming rate of biodiversity lossin low-income ones. Indeed, thepoorest and most vulnerable nations

are subsidizing wealthy lifestyles. Inall, humanity is using the resources

of 1.5 planets. You dont have to bean economist to know that such an

overdraft will come painfully due.

Thats why the concept of aGreen Economy is so exciting.

Finally, CEOs and heads of state,conservationists and communityleaders are laying the foundation for

a system that creates well-being, notjust wealth.

What will the Green Economylook like? is a hot topic

among bean counters and treehuggers alike.

There is a growing awareness thatthe prevailing economic model isntdelivering. Its not delivering forthe roughly 3 billion people

worldwide who live on theequivalent of US$2 a day or less.Its not delivering for species:

WWFs Living Planet Index showsa decrease in biodiversity by 30per cent since 1970. And it is not

working for forests, which are being

lost at a rate of some 13 mill ionhectares a year.

Forests are crucial because theirproducts and ecosystem services touch

all sectors of the economy. Their

perilous state can be correlated to theaws in our current economic model:poor governance, corporate greed,

disenfranchisement of the poor. AGreen Economic model would correct

these through new incentives and newmeasures of progress.

Indonesia provides an interestingexample of how these shifts

might play out. It has made publiccommitments to 7 per cent GDP

growth and up to 41 per cent (withinternational support) carbonemission reductions by 2020. Thisambitious 7-41 aspiration can onlybe achieved through responsiblemanagement of forests and sustainableland-use planning. With morethan half of Indonesian emissions

coming from deforestation and forestdegradation and 15 per cent ofGDP from forestry and agriculture

realigning the forest systemis essential.

ft ducn wth

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We are squandering forests. Itseasier to cut into pristine natural

forest than it is to untangle the red

tape around already deforested land.But resolving tenure and land-userights for this degraded land of

which there are an estimated 30million hectares in Indonesia

would signicantly enhance theprospect of developing it for newoil palm and timber plantations.Such policy reforms alongsideincentives created by a market that

is increasingly discerning about thecarbon footprint of products and

willing to reward emission reduction will create an environmental andeconomic win-win.

For their part, many businesses havealready realized that their bottomline depends on healthy forests, and

have endorsed voluntary standardslike the Forest Stewardship Council

and Roundtable on SustainablePalm Oil. In the short term, these

standards can mitigate the lossescaused by poor forest management.

(Just as a responsible persondoesnt become a thief just because

the shop owner isnt looking,responsible businesses dont take

advantage of poor governance toturn a prot.) In the long term,such public/private-sector groupslead to better policies that applyto all companies.

Traditional conservation values the product of generations ofreliance on the bounty of forests,rivers and seas can be recognizedand properly rewarded in Indonesia.

REDD+, with strong socialsafeguards, could be a signicantstep forward in preventing runawayclimate change and reducing the

burden of poverty.

Even as we work to scale upREDD+, there are sparks of

progress that demonstrate howindigenous communities can reap

the rewards of their environmentalstewardship in a new, Green

Economy. Take Long Pahangaiin Borneos East Kalimantan. ItsDayak people live much as their

ancestors did, with close ties to theland. We still have good forests

because people know their livesdepend on them. When we want

to eat, we come to the river or tothe forest, says Iskander Idris,

Secretary of the village.

And Long Pahangais conservationmay have other benets. The intact

forests have protected the whole

watershed, including a tributarythat ows near the village onits way to the Mahakam River,

which will generate hydropowerto bring electricity to the village.

Establishing such micro-hydro isone way WWF and partners are

trying to make conservation paydividends for rural communities.

1.4 billion people globally have noaccess to reliable electricity andthis aects their health, education,earning potential and ability to

participate fully in society.

This project is a partnershipbetween the provincial government,

the local government, the

community and WWF, saysData Kusuma, WWFs projectleader. Originally, the provincial

government proposed installingthe micro-hydro turbine in anothercommunity. But WWF showed

them that the forest was toodegraded the river had becomesilted and didnt even run all year.

That community would be very

disappointed to have a system that

didnt work properly.

In Long Pahangai, the river cansupport the micro-hydro turbineand this can be a model for

other communities; if theyrehabilitate and reforest theircatchment areas, micro-hydrocould work for them, too.

Tigang Himang, the Head of thesub-district, adds, The villages

in this sub-district depend onnature and live in harmony withtheir environment. But we needeconomic development, too.

Here, everything is done by humanpower. With electricity, we canbe more productive and benetfrom technology.

We might yet not have denitiveunderstanding of what makes a

Green Economy, but that must bea good start.

We still hae

good orests

because people know their

lies depend on them.

When we want to eat,

we come to the rier

or to the orest.



Russian scientist DR. OlGA SPERAnSkAyA has been garnering

headlines worldwide or her work to reduce the harmul impact o toxic

chemicals in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and was

the winner o the prestigious Goldman Prize in 2009 or her work in

identiying and eliminating the Soviet legacy o toxic chemicals in the

environment.

Climate champion MexicosPRESiDEnT CAlDEROn

has made clear his ambition to make Mexico a world

leader on climate action during the last meeting in Cancun

and has been active in promoting the Green Economy,

particularly in his work with orests.

ppl



AnGliqUE kiDjO, rom Benin has a voice

loved by thousands o ans around the world.

The singer-songwriter is also a powerul voice

or humanitarian and environmental change.Described by Time Magazine as Aricas Premier

Diva, Kidjo uses her celebrity status to speak

out in support o a number o important causes,

particularly girls education and sustainable

development.

lOUiS PAlMER o Switzerland provides a green

twist on Jules Vernes amous voyage. The adventurer

successully led a eet o electric vehicles around

the world last year. The Zero Race teams crossed

the globe in eighty days, highlighting two o the

major environmental challenges acing the world

today the need or more sustainable transport

and cleaner energy supplies.

ZhAnG yUE Chairman and Founder.

Responsibility is more important than

growth, runs one o the company mottos o

Chinas BROAD Group. With a degree in fne arts,

Zhang Yue has put his creative powers to work

and is now ocusing on sustainable buildings

worldwide with energy eciency fve times

that o conventional buildings.



cent of global GDP and 0.4 percent of formal employment, but

make a bigger contribution in some African countries up to 13 percent of GDP. Important as this is,forests contribute much more. Over

2 billion people depend on wood

for cooking, heating and preservingfood. Hundreds of millions

(estimates vary from 119 million to1.4 billion) depend on forests foremployment and livelihoods. Morehidden still are the public goods

derived from forest ecosystems:forests sustain over 50% of the

worlds terrestrial species; theyregulate global climate through

carbon storage and protecting

watersheds; and they have greatcultural signicance.

Forests are a renewable resource their products are also recyclableand biodegradable and there havebeen notable advances in processingeciency, including through using

wood residues and recycling woodand paper products. As a result, an

expected doubling of global demandfor wood and bre by 2030 can bemet with only a 40 per cent growth

in timber harvesting. And muchof this increase in demand will be

met from planted forests, whichhave also shown marked increases

in productivity.

With such advances in resourceeciency, the forest sector could

seem a perfect example of theGreen Economy in action. However,

Many countries are beginningcompletely to rethink their

economic strategies, as theystruggle with tackling recession and

reducing high levels of public debt. The Green Economy oers thema means to grow out of recession

in ways that are resource-ecient,ecologically-sound and equitable and so produce genuine wellbeing.

Forests can play an important partin the Green Economy, providingattention shifts beyond wood and

bre production alone to the fullrange of the ecosystem services

they provide.

Economic statistics for forests tend

only to track wood and bre-basedproducts. These account for 1 per

ecn w n t

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Steve BASS

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shaping a Green Economy also

entails stopping bad practice. Muchtimber harvesting is conducted on anon-renewable basis, often becauseof pressure from cash crops andcattle ranching, which oer higherreturns. Deforestation, mostly inthe tropics, is currently 13 millionhectares per year, which the Food and

Agriculture Organisation considers

alarmingly high. Large areas offorest are being degraded through

poor harvesting practices and illegallogging is widespread. So valuable

ecosystem services and economicopportunities are being lost. These

services are currently unpriced, andthus largely ignored, in managementdecisions except in the islandsof innovation represented by

payments for environmental services(PES) schemes .

Yet the last decade has also brought good news. It is increasingly recog-nized that investing in reducingdeforestation as a climate change

mitigation option makes economicsense: the climate regulation benetsof halving deforestation have beenestimated to be worth three times

the costs. This is helping to push aforest-based approach to mitigationup the agenda in internationalclimate negotiations, rst asREDD (reducing emissions fromdeforestation and degradation) andmore recently as REDD+ (whichadds conservation, sustainablemanagement of forests and

enhancement of carbon stocks tothe list of eligible activities).

This is all leading to greaterrecognition that investments inforests are more attractive if they

capture the full range of forestecosystem services, not just wood andbre. This means more investmentin: protecting forests, principally

by ensuring a greater share of thebenets for local communities;improving management of prod-uction forests to minimise damage

to ecosystem services; and increasingthe area of the kinds of planted

forests that support many ecosystemservices. From certied timberproduction and markets for

ecosystem services, to partnershipsthat reward local poor people forconserving forests, we already have

enough examples that work ofGreen Economy forestry to warrant

more serious policy attention. Suchglimpses of the future need to be

assessed for the ecosystem servicesthey oer and their distributionof costs, benets and risks, andpromoted more widely in the

REDD+ negotiations.

Economic modelling for UNEPsGreen Economy report indicatesthat green investments in forests

can boost national economies,while protecting ecosystem services.Providing just 0.035 per cent of

global GDP each year between 2010

and 2050 in public investment topay forest landholders to conserve

forests, plus private investmentin reforestation, could raise valueadded in the forest sector by 20%and increase the amount of carbonstored by 28%.

A global deal on REDD+ may be thebest opportunity to conserve forests

and invest in their contribution to

a Green Economy. Existing PESschemes have been limited by a

lack of funds to scale up from pilot

projects. But if a deal can be struck,there could be a step change in the

funds available. A global REDD+agreement could tip the nanceand governance balance in favourof long-term sustainable forestmanagement. It would also openup the prospect of new types offorest-related jobs, livelihoods andrevenues where local people can berewarded as guardians of forests

and ecosystem services. Safeguards will be needed to protect therights of forest-dependent people

particularly when these derivefrom traditional systems rather thanformal legal ones and to ensurethat those who bear the opportunitycosts of REDD+ schemes receive an

appropriate share of the benets.

A vision for a forest sector in a GreenEconomy is now in sight. Decision-makers and the wider public wouldbetter appreciate the many roles offorests as factories (producing

goods from wood to food), asecological infrastructure (regulatingclimate and water regimes), andas providers of innovation and

insurance services (through theresilience provided by forestbiodiversity). The economic reachof forests would extend to sectorsbeyond wood and paper industries

alone, lightening their ecologicalfootprints by substituting renewableforest bre for non-renewablemetals, concrete and plastics, andcarbon-neutral woodfuels for fossilfuels. Eective local control andmanagement of forests would be

encouraged by greater nancialincentives, sustained by a robust

and fair international regime topay for forest global public goods.

Such payments would also supportand reward partnerships with local

and community stakeholders whodepend closely on forest health. With

such incentives to produce multiplebenets, forest stakeholders willroutinely value the range of forest

goods and services, and account forthem better.

Decision-makers and the wider

public would better appreciate

the many roles o orests

as actories (producing goods

om wood to ood),

as ecological inastructure

(regulating climate and

water regimes),

and as providers o innovation

and insurance serices

(through the resilience provided

by orest biodiersity).



Perhaps half of all life on earth livesup there, never coming down to the

ground. Some 80% of the insectsthat entomologists discovered in thecanopy in Asia had no name, about60% in Central America were stillnew to science.

Thirty years on, much more - of

possibly greater signicance- is understood. Atmosphericscientists and eco-physiologists atthe Brazilian and NASA-fundedLargescale Biosphere Atmosphereexperiment built towers across

Amazonias forests and measuredthe uxes of gasses like carbonand oxygen in and out of the forest

canopy. This revealed that suchforests remove about a tonne of

carbon per hectare each year fromthe atmosphere, storing it in trunks

The English playwright, Oscar Wilde,once commented that the cynic

knows the price of everything butthe value of nothing. Today many

claim that biodiversity is priceless,but few seem prepared to pay for it.

The value of its existence alone has

not been able to stem a 20th centurytsunami of economic forces that

regards destruction of biodiversityas the acceptable collateral damage

of prosperity. And, too often,rising population has left the poor

with little option but to plunderbiodiversity for survival.

A very dierent view of conservationis needed if the Millennium

Development Goal of immediatelyreducing biodiversity loss is to haveany hope of being achieved this

century. At the leading edge of thedebate - biodiversity itself should bereplaced by the ecosystem services itprovides to humanity. Forests oer aproxy through which to explore how

natural capital underpins everyonesclimate, water, food, energy, health

and livelihood security.

The unknown world of the tropicalrainforest canopy fascinated me as a

young zoologist in Borneo. Reachingthe treetops - where the tallestDipterocarp soars over 90 metres -

was a dangerous operation involving

catapults and climbing ropes frombelow or hot air balloons from

above: so I constructed precariousaerial walkways to enable scienticteams to explore at ease. What we

discovered stunned us, revealing thebreathtaking extent of our ignorance.

and roots. Furthermore, trees release

vast quantities of a rich mix ofvolatile organic compounds into theair - where the chemicals oxidise insunlight to create tiny nuclei around

which water droplets form. In eect,the Amazon canopy seeds its ownrain. Thus biodiversity provides

immense regulating services to our

atmosphere.Imagine the worlds tropical forestsas giant eco-utilities, like a powerstation or water treatment plant,

providing ecosystem services we alluse, but no one yet pays for. They

are the largest existing terrestrialcarbon capture and storage (CCS)system, scrubbing the atmosphereof a billion tonnes of pollutantss

each year. They do it for free, whileindustrial CCS may cost US$300

int nNtu Ct

AnDreW W. mitcheLL

d d Dct,g C p,

C, t tt Dc pjct

Bllross/cobs



per tonne or more to do the samejob. Clearing and burning tropical

forests both removes this uniquesystem and emits smoke equivalent

to the annual carbon emissions ofall transport worldwide. Paymentfor halting the loss of forests is the

inspiration for REDD, the proposedUNFCCC mechanism to reduce

emissions from deforestation anddegradation, and could generate

billions of dollars for poor forest-owning nations. The glacialpace of UN negotiations hasadmittedly bred cynicism in carbon

markets, but Norway has provided$2.5 billion to set the pace forimplementing what promises to bethe largest, cheapest and quickest

means of combating climate changethis decade.

Forests also provide another,

possibly even more valuableecosystem service. According tothe Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change, Amazonias treecrowns release eight trillion tonnes

of water vapour a year. This isrecycled many times by the forest

canopy water pump before reachingthe Andes. Some of it falls as snow,

to feed melt water into the vastriver basins of the Western Amazon

and scientists speculate that alow level jet stream transports

moisture to fall as rain on the beefand soy ranches of southern Brazil,

and possibly on the economicbreadbasket of the La Plata Basin.

What would happen if this pump

should ever become unreliable?Would the lights go out in So

Paulo as giant hydro dams ran dry,or would food prices in Europe rise

as Amazon soy

failed to arrive tofeed its chickens,

pigs and cows?Severe droughts

are increasingin the Amazon,

and those in2005 and 2010

provided aforetaste of what

could happen.Rivers dried

up, groundedsoy barges had to make a 2,000-kmsdeviation to reach markets, sh

gasped on river banks as remotevillages starved, hospital admissions

rose and airports closed due tosmoke from forest res.

UNEPs landmark report TheEconomics of Ecosystems & Biodiversityestimated the ecosystem services

lost by deforestation as worthbetween US$1.4 4.5 trillion a

year. Investors are waking up tothe fact that some companies are

running increasing risks by failingto account for their use of natural

capital, and its ecosystem services,in their business models. The Forest

Footprint Disclosure Project callson companies to disclose their useof commodities - such as beef andleather, soy, palm oil, paper or pulp- that drive deforestation: injust two years, 57 major investinginstitutions managing US$ 5.7trillion in assets have endorsed it.

On the upside, a UNDP report:Latin America and the Caribbean A

Biodiversity Superpowershows thatthe region has a major economicopportunity in trading in ecosystem

services,

Proactive Investment in NaturalCapital (PINC), as outlined in theGlobal Canopy Programmes Little

Biodiversity Finance Book, oers anew economic vision for nature.Whilst REDD is inexorably linked

to emerging markets for carbon,the PINC framework oers 17

mechanisms that could

pay for biodiversityand its ecosystemservices, reachingUS$140 billionannually in 2020. Manyare available now.

Valuing natural capitaland paying for its

maintenance, depletion,or restoration

should become ascommonplace as using

nancial or socialcapital. Safeguards and equitablebenet sharing in this process arefraught with diculties, but the riskfrom business as usual is greater.

Tropical forest nations and their

peoples are rich in natural capital,and they need to be adequatelyrewarded for maintaining ecosystem

services. If a way can be found to dothis, one day their forests really will

be worth more alive, economically,than dead.

Valuing natural capital

and paying or its

maintenance, depletion, or

restoration should become

as commonplace as using

fnancial or social capital.

vaaa/Stopoto



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theme Forests or Peope, Forests or Gree Growth support o the2011 iteratoa year o the Forests. The wers were aouced Februar ad each receved a cash prze o US$100,000 to expad thergroudbreag tatves.

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No fewer than 1.6 billion people nearly a quarter of the worldspopulation depend on forests

for their livelihoods. Forestsare also critical to maintaining

biodiversity, mitigatingclimate change and enabling

key ecosystem functions thatregulate the biosphere. And,

as the UN resolution declaring2011 the International Year ofForests recognized, managing

our planet: forests nature at your service

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