The Financial Crisis and Sustainable Forest Management: Threat and Opportunity

Transcription

1 The Financial Crisis and Sustainable Forest Management: Threat and Opportunity UNFF, New York April 20, 2009 Priorities, New Opportunities, and New Directions 1

2 Priority Areas, Challenges, and Opportunities We are really at an Open Moment in history where all of us interested in forests are seeing a much broader role for them Global Development Scenarios Forests are of enormous global importance for: Biodiversity Conservation Ecosystem Services Climate Change PRIORITIES : HOTSPOTS MADAGASCAR HIGH BIODIVERSITY WILDERNESS AREAS THE GUAYANA SHIELD FINANCING FOREST CONSERVATION PROTECTED AREAS ECOTOURISM PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE: AVOIDED DEFORESTATION / REDD THE IMPORTANCE OF HFLD COUNTRIES THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE COPENHAGEN COP OF THE UNFCCC Human Well-Being The CI Approach Be Strategic Set Priorities (based on the best available Science) 2

3 HOTSPOTS Prioritizing Areas of High Irreplaceability (Endemic Species) and High Threat HOTSPOTS Earth s 34 Richest and Most Endangered Ecoregions High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas Very High Species and Endemism Mainly Tropical Forest Include almost all Small Island Developing Nations High Historic Deforestation Rates HOTSPOTS Original Extent 23,490,101 km % of Earth s s land surface HOTSPOTS 86+% Lost 3

4 HOTSPOTS Area Remaining Intact 3,385,341 km2 2.3% of Earth s s land surface Plant Endemism in the Hotspots 150,000 species 50% of all plants as endemics Vertebrate Endemism in the Hotspots 12,065 species 42% of all vertebrates as endemics Madagascar Plants 14-15,000 15,000 spp. Lemurs 5 families 15 genera 102 species 80+% endemic / found nowhere 100% else on Earth endemic 4

5 MADAGASCAR 90+% lost Remaining area of natural habitat ~50 60,000 km2 A Dual Focus Hotspots Madagascar: The World s s Highest Priority Hotspot? High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas High Biodiversity Still Largely Intact 5

6 The Guayana Shield World s s Largest and Most Pristine Tropical Rain Forest Region 2001 Suriname 90% remaining BOTTOM LINE Hotspots and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas The Top Priority in Terrestrial Biodiversity Conservation and Essential Elements in any Discussion of Global Forests Hotspots & High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas If we fail in these areas, especially the Hotspots, we will lose a major portion of the world s terrestrial biodiversity and esp. the world s s tropical forests regardless of how successful we are in other areas 6

7 Human Cultural Diversity (Linguistic Diversity) LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN THE HOTSPOTS - 3,475 LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN THE HBWA - 1,617 TOTAL HOTSPOTS + HBWAS - 5,092 Indigenous People Key Partners in Sustainable Forest Management GLOBAL TOTAL - 6,912 % IN HOTSPOTS + HBWAS 73.7% Partnerships Indigenous and Traditional Peoples Initiative How to Finance Sustainable Forest Management in the Future Protected Areas (in the broad sense) Funding Mechanisms Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) Support to Civil Society Organizations in Hotspots, esp. for Protected Areas 7

8 CEPF- 1 st Phase World Bank Global Environment Facility MacArthur Foundation Conservation International Government of Japan $125 million / 5 years for Hotspots CEPF 2 nd Phase World Bank Global Environment Facility MacArthur Foundation Conservation International Government of Japan Government of France Target: $150 million / 5 years for Hotspots Trust Funds for Long-Term Financial Sustainability The Global Conservation Fund (GCF) Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation $100 million / 5 years Focused on Creating New Parks and Reserves in Hotspots and Wilderness Areas The Global Conservation Fund (GCF) 40 new protected areas 5 expanded protected areas 73 million ha in ongoing or completed deals 3/4s s of funds used for Trust Fund creation 8

9 MADAGASCAR Commitment to triple Protected Area coverage over a 5 year period! MADAGASCAR $50 million Trust Fund requested in September, 2003 Total achieved as of March, 2008 Suriname Conservation Foundation (SCF) Trust Fund Reserve Created in 1998 Trust Fund in $15 million 2002 May

10 Dec and beyond Amapa Trust 73% in Protected Areas and Indigenous Reserves Ecotourism Fund: Target of $15 million Payment for Ecosystem Services Costa Rica 10

11 Global Climate Change Forest Carbon An Essential, Immediate Solution The Big Opportunity Avoided Deforestation ~20 ~20% of Emissions from Burning of Tropical Forests REDD Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation REDD Essential but much more needed Not included in Kyoto Protocol Excluded from major Emissions Trading Markets (e.g., EU Emissions Trading Scheme - ~63 billion in 2007) Thus no Regulatory Framework and No Formal Market Incentives for Reducing Deforestation 11

12 REDD Nonetheless, things are happening! Voluntary Market growing rapidly National Scale Planning and Pilot Projects by governments and NGOs in high priority countries (e.g., Brazil s s Amazon Fund) World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Forest Investment Program (FIP) MADAGASCAR: Zahamena - Mantadia Corridor 425,000 ha o Natural Forest 3,020 ha Reforestation 32 nurseries 100s of jobs REDD Dozens of REDD projects are being initiated, but. a significant portion the most important countries for tropical forest are still off the table for REDD High Forest Cover Low Deforestation Rate Countries (HFLD) Suriname, Guyana, Colombia, Gabon, Congo, DRC, Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, etc. HFLD Countries Low Historic Deforestation Rates Account for at least 33% of remaining tropical forests Must be included in all efforts to compensate countries for their forest carbon resources 12

13 2009 and beyond Campaignto Save the Hotspots 1998 GUYANA SURINAME GREEN A Bold Offer to the World The Top Priority: Demonstrating Value of Intact Forests at a Scale Competitive with Major Extractive Industries Redressing some of the great economic imbalances that exist in today s s World Getting Forests (Standing Forests and Reforestation) Into Copenhagen (and the successor to The Kyoto Protocol) 13

14 Need to be Optimistic We now have an historic opportunity to adopt a broad portfolio approach that will ensure that both conservation and forest use become truly sustainable.. but we can only succeed if we realize that we all have the same ultimate objective, and that we must work in partnership across many different sectors to come up with lasting solutions 14