United Nations forum and REDD

Hi,

For the next two weeks the United Nations Forum is meeting in Poznan, Poland, on how to battle climate change. Their main agenda being:

Protect the remaining tropical rainforests

How?

Stop or slow down the cutting of forests for timber and agriculture

Why?

Trees are known as "carbon dioxide sinks" as they soak up and store CO₂ in their tissues during photosynthesis. This carbon dioxide will be released back to the atmosphere when trees are burnt or when they rot, as when they are cut down and the leaves and branches touch the soil. The decomposers in the soil, soil bacteria and soil fungi, will cause decay to take place. The organic molecules (carbohydrates, proteins and fats or oils) will be broken down to release energy for the decomposers. The wastes will be CO₂, which goes back into the air.

What is the problem with CO₂ going into the air?

1. The normal concentration of CO₂ in the air has been 0.03% for millions of years. Since the advent of man's penchant for burning fossil fuels, the concentration has been increasing alarmingly.


2. Cutting down of tropical rainforest further exacerbates the increase in CO₂ concentration in the air. Deforestation contributes to 20% of CO₂ emissions from human activities.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. This means that it is like a warm blanket on the earth, not allowing the heat on earth from escaping into the space. Heat come to the earth from the sun in the form of light energy/solar energy. Most of this light energy is used to warm up the air, the soil and the ocean. Only about 1% is absorbed by plants and phytoplankton(algae in the oceans and water bodies) during photosynthesis to convert light energy into chemical energy. Glucose is formed in this process. Glucose is then changed by the metabolic processes in the plant/algae into organic molecules that the plant need for its energy, growth and reproduction needs. (Remember that plants do not have mouths; they get their energy in the form of light energy. Animals have mouths. [vaay illa jeevan ;-)] Animals eat their energy in the form of chemical energy i.e. food molecules ( carbohydrate, proteins and fats).

Since burning of fossils fuels in large quantities releases CO₂, the plants cannot remove the excess quickly enough. This build up of CO₂ causes the warm blanket to become better and better at keeping the warmth in the atmosphere. This in turn causes climate change.

United Nation countries have agreed to cut greenhouse gases by 5% by 2012 during a meeting in 1990 in Kyoto, Japan. This agreement or treaty will expire in 2012.

The Poznan meeting this week will consider "pay-to-preserve forest scheme". This scheme is also known as REDD or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation.

What is REDD?

In this is scheme the richer countries would pay to maintain forests in tropical regions in poorer countries to prevent global warming.

Billions of dollars will be collected from donor countries and be given to developing countries/poor countries so that they will protect their rainforests.
The money will go towards:

1. preventing illegal logging


2. preventing forest fires


3. settling land disputes due to loss of livelihood of peoples who depend on the forest

A trial REDD programme will be starting with Indonesia. 70% of Indonesia's original forests have already been cut down. But it still has 91 million hectares. However, it is also the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter! Forest protection is important to prevent deforestation in this large S. E. Asian country.

We are familiar with the haze that we get in Singapore around June to August almost every year when the forests fires in Indonesia produces smoke, which the winds will blow towards Singapore.

The rich countries of the world have to help, with Australia coming forward to help in Indonesia:

1. an Australian company, Carbon Conservation teamed up with Aceh government.


2. Fauna and Flora International together with Australia's Macquarie Financial Services teamed up with three REDD projects in West Kalimantan and Papua governments.


3. New Forests, Australia teamed up with Papua government.


4. The government of Australia pledged $29m to protect, rehabilitate and drain peat swamps in Kalimantan. Peat swamps are wet throughout the year but during the dry seasons will catch fire spontaneously. The fire will start sweep through the forest quickly and are difficult to put out. (Peat is low grade coal and if found on the surface ie no need to mine for it, as in Kalimantan. This also means that they are easily combustible if dry. Since it is found on large areas of the ground, it will take months of arduous effect to put out these fires.)

The above projects if managed properly will not only preserve the forests, but also empower the locals to breathe clean air, maintain soil fertility and provide employment.

Quiz time: match the answers to the questions

1. Plants that photosynthesise are called... (remember, not _all_ plants do)


2. An example of 'heterotrophes' is...

Answers:

1. Mushrooms


2. Autotrophes

Click here to hear a song on Youtube by Midnight Oil on the issues of deforestation.......

Song lyrics: River Runs Red

So you cut all the tall trees down,
you poisoned the sky and the sea
You've taken what's good from the ground
But you've left precious little for me

You remember the flood and the fall,
we remember the light on the hill
There should be enough for us all,
but the dollar is driving us still

River runs red, black rain falls, dust in my hand
River runs red, black rain falls, on my bleeding land

So we came and we conquered and found
Riches of commons and kings
Who strangled and wrestled the ground
But they never put back anything

Now i'm trapped like a dog in a cage
Wherever the truth is pursued
It must be the curse of the age
What's taken is never renewed

(hirst/moginie)

Cheers