March 14, 2013 - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

March 14, 2013

Class 11. DeforestationSlide2

What is deforestation?

Deforestation is the direct human-induced conversion of forested land to non-forested land.

From UNFCC

Does not include harvesting and/or natural disturbance where forests will regenerate back

Degradation also

a concern…Slide3

Current state

According to

FAO’s

2005 Global Forest Resource Assessment, deforestation - mainly conversion of forests to agricultural land - continued at an alarmingly high rate at the global level during the period 1990–2005, about 13 million hectares per year, with few signs of a significant decrease over time.

The highest deforestation currently occurs in tropical America (4.5 million hectares per year) and Africa (3.1 million hectares per year), whilst tropical Asia has about 2.9 million ha per year.

http://www.illegal-logging.info/uploads/KeyFindingsen.pdf

Slide4

Changes in forest cover 2000-2005

Deforestation rate is slowing down, but still a very important issue.

Changes in forest cover 2000-2005:

Source: IPCC, 2007Slide5

Consequences of Deforestation

Contribution to climate change

Impact on Biodiversity

Other environmental goods and services

Reduced socio-economic opportunities for indigenous and local communitiesSlide6

Deforestation

Deforestation, forest degradation and other changes in forests contribute 17% of all GHG emissions (UN-REDD, 2010)Slide7

Drivers of change in ecosystem services

(Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2006)Slide8

Drivers of tropical deforestation

tropical deforestation, in particular, is not a forestry problem but one of land use, as most causes originate outside the forestry sector.

It results from a combination of factors

Geist

and

Lambin

2001 examine 152 case studies of deforestation

They examined proximate causes and underlying drivers

Ag expansion in 146 out of 152Infrastructure 110/152Wood extraction 102/152Economics, followed by policy/institutional, followed by technologySlide9

Examples

In South America policies promoting colonization, settlement and agriculture

These activities

provide the highest return, promoting land conversion

Brazil and the Amazon

Cattle

SoybeansSlide10

Central Africa

In Africa, timber still provides significant source of revenues

Weak controls lead to over-logging and illegal logging

Migrants follow logging roads and land use may change Slide11

Asia

States in Southeast Asia pursued sequence of large forest development projects

Originally based on timber extraction

Asia Pulp and Paper mill in Indonesia

Subsequent establishment of plantations (palm oil)

http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0425-oil_palm.htmlSlide12

Palm Oil and Deforestation

Between 1967 and 2000 the area under cultivation in Indonesia expanded from less than 2,000 square

kilometres

(770 square miles) to more than 30,000 square

kilometres

. Deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil and illegal logging is so rapid that a report in 2007 by the United Nations Environment

Programme

(UNEP) said most of the country’s forest might be destroyed by 2022. Although the rate of forest loss has declined in Indonesia in the past decade, UNEP says the spread of palm-oil plantations is one of the greatest threats to forests in Indonesia and Malaysia.

http://www.economist.com/node/16423833Slide13

Environmental Impacts

In Sumatra and Borneo, palm-oil expansion threatens elephants, tigers and rhinos, as well as

orang-utans

. Enormous amounts of carbon dioxide are released as forests and

peatlands

are destroyed. Deforestation makes Indonesia one of the world’s largest carbon-dioxide emitters.

On the bright side, it is true that palm oil has contributed to economic growth in the countries that produce it. But even that has been tarnished in some cases by social conflict, for example when locals or indigenous groups have been

turfed

off their land to make room for plantations.Slide14

Economics of Palm Oil

the average price in 2010 has been around $800 a

tonne

, says Siegfried Falk of Oil World, a firm of analysts. Oil World forecasts that global production will reach a record 46.9m

tonnes

this year, up from 45.3m in 2009, with most of the increase coming from Indonesia

.

The

oil palm is an efficient crop, yielding up to ten times more oil per hectare than soyabeans, rapeseed or sunflowers. On 5% of the world’s vegetable-oil farmland it produces 38% of output, more than any of these other crops. Any substitute would need more land. Its bounty makes it relatively cheap.Slide15

The growing worldwide interest in biofuels as an alternative for fossil fuels will likely increase demand for feedstock, such as oil palm, and lead to the expansion of plantations, though the recent

proposal of the European Commission to restrict food-based biofuels to 5% of renewable energy might slow that growth.

To

understand the economics of palm oil production, which has been portrayed as environmentally and socially costly, we studied 23 oil palm plantations in Indonesia.

We found that potential profitability of the plantations varied between approximately USD 4500 and USD 30 500* per hectare over a 25-year lifecycle. Clearly, such plantations would be attractive to investors.

The

returns to

labour

, that is, to the workers, of the 23 plantations varied between approximately USD 6.20 and USD 27 per person per day, which equated to two-to-seven times greater, respectively, than the average agricultural daily wage. Hence,

labouring

in an oil palm plantation was economically more attractive than other forms of agricultural day

labour

. Even in cases where a plantation was established in a sparsely populated area and paid higher wages, the plantation was still able to cover the cost of

labour

. Consequently, higher wages in certain regions attracted more people and drove further conversion of other land uses, such as forests and agricultural land. Indeed, several of the plantations received additional income from logging when they were being established, which varied between 7% and 9% of total income for the full 25-year lifecycle of the plantation.

Source: http

://

blog.worldagroforestry.org

/

index.php

/2012/10/25/the-economics-of-oil-palm-in-

indonesia

/

Trucks waiting to offload oil palm fruit at a mill

Economics of Palm OilSlide16

Here in BC…

Approx. 6,200ha deforested in 2007; approx. 2000ha reforested that year.

Province of BC: Zero net deforestation act:

http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/gov05-1.htm

(act)

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/znd/index.htm

(

MoFLM

)Disturbance ≠ Deforestation“…two-thirds of deforestation is a result of wildfires.” (Province, 05/27/2010) Slide17

Addressing (bad) deforestation

Payments (REDD+)

Regulating trade in tropical logs

Certifying

Restricting illegal logs

The European Union's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan

The Lacey Act in the USSlide18

Improving the return to managing forests

Various efforts to improve the return to managing tropical forests

Focus not only on deforestation but also degradation

Improving timber returns

Valuing other goods and services

Providing economic opportunities for local communities-especially important where trying to protect biodiversity valuesSlide19

Long-term solution?

Decreasing deforestation with increasing wealth happens because, as economies develop, they tend to invest more in environmental quality. Moreover, less developed economies offer less employment opportunities and force people to convert forested land. Conversely, as the wealth of nations increases, high tech services draws people away from activities that clear land and, hence, usually forest cover increases (Ewers 2006). The literature refers to this process as “forest transitions”, which are long-run processes in which economic development drives a pattern of forest loss followed by forest recovery (Ewers 2006;

Rudel

et al. 2005)Slide20

Looking Ahead…

From Nilsson, 2011Slide21

From Nilsson, 2011Slide22

Looking Ahead…

From

Bringezeu

, 2011Slide23

Increasing Demand…

From

Bringezeu

, 2011Slide24

More People

From

Bringezeu

, 2011Slide25

Increasing Food Prices

From Nilsson, 2011Slide26

But Pressure Not Just from Food…

From

Bringezeu

, 2011Slide27

Complex, Interlocking System…

From

Bringezeu

, 2011