Forests Now Declaration

The Forests Now Declaration is a declaration that advocates using carbon credits to protect tropical forests. The Declaration was created by the Global Canopy Programme, and has been signed by over 200 NGOs, business leaders, scientists and conservationists. The Declaration was created as carbon credits from land use, land-use change and forestry were omitted from the Clean Development Mechanism for the First Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol despite contributing 18-25% of all emissions.[1]

Rationale

Deforestation in the next five years will release more carbon dioxide than all aircraft since the Wright Brothers until at least 2025;[2] however, credits from reduced deforestation were omitted from the Clean Development Mechanism for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, so there is little incentive for forested countries to reduce their deforestation rates. The Forests NOW declaration seeks to establish new market based mechanisms to protect the ecosystem services that forests provide in biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and global and local hydrological and mineral cycles.

Prescriptions

The Declaration prescribes six changes to the existing carbon market frameworks:

Signatories

Over 200 individuals and organisations have signed the Declaration including:

Union of Concerned Scientists

Flora and Fauna International

Wildlife Conservation Society

Conservation International

Coalition for Rainforest Nations

Tropical Forest Trust[3]

Hans Blix

Wangari Maathai

Jane Goodall

A full list of signatories can be found here

External links

Forests in the Fight Against Climate Change, a report by the Global Canopy Initiative http://www.globalcanopy.org/themedia/file/PDFs/Forests%20First%20June%202007.pdf

Notes

  1. 1 Stern N. (2006). The Stern Review on the economics of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
  2. Forests First in the Fight Against Climate Change Global Canopy Programme, 2007
  3. News story – TFT endorses the Forests Now Declaration
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