Global Warming Solutions: Stop Deforestation
Tropical deforestation accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s heat-trapping emissions — more than the total emissions of every car, truck, plane, ship, and train on Earth.
Reducing tropical deforestation can significantly lower global warming emissions and — together with efforts to reduce emissions from fossil fuels — plays an integral role in a comprehensive long-term solution to global warming.
To accomplish it, it's important to understand the driving forces behind deforestation today and the many reasons why reducing deforestation must be a priority.
What's Driving Tropical Deforestation?
Large agricultural industries such as palm oil, soybeans, beef, and timber have become the major forces driving tropical deforestation today.
The drivers of deforestation differ by region — soybean and beef production are the major drivers in South America, while timber, paper, and palm oil production are more important in Southeast Asia — but all of them play a significant role on a global scale.
Solutions to Tropical Deforestation
In a series of reports on the industries that drive deforestation — wood products, vegetable oils, and meat production — UCS explains the expansion of these drivers into tropical forests, presents the alternatives, and gives recommendations for how businesses, governments, and consumers can go deforestation-free.
Despite the rapid expansion of drivers of deforestation in the tropics, there have been notable successes in channeling their growth in ways that no longer cause deforestation. Businesses can move to become deforestation-free, and consumers can direct their shopping toward these businesses and away from products that lead to forest destruction.
The Importance of REDD+
REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries plus related pro-forest policies) offers rewards to developing countries for reducing their deforestation rates. REDD+ policies offer one of the best, most affordable strategies for reducing tropical deforestation, and recent data show they are succeeding in Brazil and other tropical countries.
In order for REDD+ policies to be strong and effective, however, there are specific factors that must be included to ensure that real emissions reductions are made.
Reducing Illegal Logging in the Tropics
Illegal logging and the associated trade of illegally sourced wood products is a clandestine industry that threatens forests and economies alike.
In 2008 Congress passed amendments to the Lacey Act — a century-old law that combats trafficking in illegal plants and wildlife — to close the entire U.S. market to illegally sourced wood. Its full and effective implementation must be a priority.
Tropical Deforestation and Biofuels
When land used for food or feed production is turned over to growing biofuel crops, agriculture has to expand elsewhere.This often results in new deforestation, particularly in the tropics. The resulting emissions from clearing new land can be significant and may outweigh any emissions savings from the use of biofuels. Effective biofuel policies must fully address this issue.
Biochar as a Climate Mitigation Strategy?
One proposal for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is to heat biomass — plant and animal materials — in a low-oxygen environment to create biochar.
It is too early, however, to rely on biochar as an effective tool to address global warming — insuffficient data exists to assess its stability over long time periods.
