Over several years, he showed his culture to Thomas Fischermann, a German journalist writing for the German newspaper Die Zeit. Now, the two men wrote a book about their journeys, called “The last Guardian of the Amazon”. Yes, both men. Madarejuwá Tenharim is listed as the first author in the book, Fischermann as the second. This is something that makes this book special in my eyes. It’s not the typical story of a foreigner visiting a foreign culture, collecting data and information to leave for good and write a book about this culture, not giving back anything to the people.

“The last Guardian of the Amazon” is different. The book is written from Madarejuwá Tenharim’s perspective: he takes the reader onto a journey through the Amazon, showing him his daily life and telling him which problems his community is facing. For example, deforestation which is destroying the rainforest. Or Brazilian loggers threatening him and his family because they want to exploit the Tenharim’s land. Or his own balancing act living between two completely different worlds – the Brazilian life with cities, buses and smartphones, and the Tenharim life with hunting animals, learning from the elders and listening to the birds.

The 184 pages of the book are a source of knowledge for the reader and a guide to understand the Tenharim culture. The reader also learns why the Amazon rainforest is so important for the indigenous communities living in and off it. Not only is it the provider of food, but it is also the main part of the people’s identity and spirituality. If the Amazon gets destroyed, the indigenous people inhabiting it are dying both physically and mentally. But it also gives an impression of how determined and resolute Madarejuwá Tenharim and other indigenous people are to protect the forest.

Unfortunately, so far, the book is only available in German but there is an English preview on the book’s website where still some important parts of Madarejuwá’s story are available. (Maybe, if enough English speaking persons insist on a translation, there will be an English version, who knows…)

A few days ago, Madarejuwá’s message became more important than ever: Paulo Paulino Guajajara, a 26-year old member of the Guajajara indigenous group was killed in the Araribóia reserve located in Brazil’s North-East. He was one of the most prominent indigenous activists fighting for the protection of the Amazon rainforest in the country. Under the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil has become one of the most dangerous countries for environmental and indigenous activists. Bolsonaro wants to open indigenous territories to exploitation. This is fatal in various ways: indigenous communities rely on the intactness of the surrounding nature since it provides their daily life; also, indigenous people are one of the most important players when it comes to environmental protection in the Amazon rainforest. Large parts of the Amazon forest were burning in August and September 2019 due to wildfires which were in parts caused by human activities, especially by land clearing for farming. After the burning was controlled in October, deforestation has increased extremely. This year, the deforestation rate of the first nine months has been 85% higher than the one of the respective time span of last year.

The Amazon forests seem to be far away. Many may say: Why should I care? The Amazon rainforest is also called the “lungs of the planet” because its innumerable trees and plants are providing oxygen and working as a CO2 sink – which in times of the global climate crisis is of incomparable importance. Therefore, we should all care about what is going on in Brazil.

Indigenous communities are fighting, risking their lives to protect the forest which is the center of their culture, traditions, and lives. There are various institutions and organizations supporting the indigenous groups’ resistance against the exploitation of the Amazon forest, here are some: Amazonwatch, Amazonfrontlines, The Amazon Conservation Team, Amazon Conservation, and others. 

The post Guardians of the Amazon appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“It gets harder and harder to achieve a consensus on how the forest of the future will – and should – look like”, Gregor Aas, head of the ÖBG, says when opening the forum. The forum is split up into two parts: Part one is about adaption of the forests to climatic changes, part two is dealing with the climate protection function of the forests and how this could be used when dealing with a changing climate.

“How is the climate changing in Germany and how accurate are the forecasts?” is the title of the first talk. It is held by Johannes Luers (substituting Christoph Thomas who has been sick on the day of the conference). Some of the prognosis shown on his slides state that there is a climate change of +1°C already on a global level, others state that it’s already +1.3°C. “Over land, the temperature increase is already more than the +1.5°C which are the goal of the Paris Agreement”, Lüers says. The oceans need longer to warm up than the land – and 70% of the planet are covered by water. “Soon, it will be more, due to the rising sea levels”, Lüers says. The culprit for the rising temperatures is – as widely known – the greenhouse effect which is caused by different climate gases, such as CO2 or methane. “The human made climate change might not seem dramatic – but the consequences will be dramatic.” Time series of temperature measurements at the ÖBG show that there is a significant change in extreme values. The records indicate that between 1997 and 2016, 7 of the 10 hottest months and years ever measured took place – and only 1 of the 10 coldest months and 0 of the 10 coldest years. “The cold stimulus is missing – this affects the plants”, Lüers says. Forests have to deal with extreme years – wetness, drought and storms are making the forests’ life hard. “We don’t know what will happen in the future, there is always the human error.”

Next, Christian Ammer from the University of Göttingen talks about “How climate change affects the ecosystem of the forests and how silviculture can react to that”. He first lists some of the challenges and obstacles, the forest has to deal with today: deficits in precipitation, rising temperatures, more insect infestations and also the long lifespan of forests which makes them more vulnerable. “There are two scenarios: either the forests can adapt – or they can’t”, Ammer says. No matter which scenario will occur, there will be reductions in growth and altered mortalities. “I will present you a typical lumberjack – my former neighbour Sepp”, Ammer says, showing a picture of a middle-aged man in green overalls, standing in the middle of a forest. People like Sepp are now dealing with the questions how to treat their forests. Ammer talks about adaption: Mixed forests are more flexible, they recover faster from dry years than pure stands. Not only from an ecological but also from an economic point of view, mixed stands show positive effects to climate change. Indigenous species that are adapting well to climate change are the grand fir and the European black pine. “I totally failed in trying to persuade Sepp to plant some of them”, he says, causing quite some laughter in the audience. “His grandfather didn’t do that, his father neither – so why should he? You see, it isn’t always easy to change something.” But Sepp’s daughter listened to Ammer’s words and started planting some of the adapting species. Also, the thinning of the forest could reduce the risk of drought stress in young spruces, he says. Ammer concludes that the choice of tree species and crop treatment can help with the adaptation to climate change. But he also mentions that these actions are just to reduce the symptoms of a bigger problem: the human influence. “How many of you did come here by car today?”, he asks in the end of his talk. An embarrassed silence fills the room.

After a short break, Ralf Petercord from the Bavarian office for Forests and Forestry gives the probably most emotional talk of the conference: “Which new pests and tree diseases are brought by climate change?” Petercord uses a lot of empathy and irony while talking about different insect and fungus calamities. “The bark beetle is definitely not interested in how the weather is behaving tomorrow or in 10 years – it is interested in the weather today”, he says. As the previous speakers, also he mentions the unusually warm winters and extremely hot summers which occur in ever shorter intervals. The reactions of insects and fungi to climate change are various: They show different distribution patterns, a decreased generation time and a broader host range which means that they can attack more different species. With figures on various slides, he shows how the bark beetle population and also their effects on trees have increased after very warm years – the heat summer of 2003 is a very indicative marker – but there is a general increase visible since 2015. Also, the Oak Processionary Moth has changed its distribution dramatically: “In 2007, this moth was listed as an endangered species in Upper Franconia – today you can find it almost all over Bavaria!”, Petercord says, gesticulating on the stage. The Gypsy Moth causes huge damages in forests as well: Their complete defoliation leads to a thin canopy – due to the missing shade many young birds die in their nests. “Our forests are dying! We have to do something so that they can recover”, Petercord says, putting quite a lot of emotion in his words. As one of the strategies to handle pests he names that we all have to reduce our consumption of wood: According to Petercord, every German person uses about 600 Gramms of wood every day. Also, using pesticides in forests should be an option for him. When a member of the audience asks what he thinks about the insects’ demise, he answers: “I think, the insects’ demise is not only caused by pesticides but by the fact that we are driving around in SUVs in the city and want cheaper food all the time. First, I talk about the poor insects – and then I want to have my 500 gramms of meat from Aldi for 2,63 Euro!?” These words are greeted with tumultuous applause by the audience.

“Nature conservation, climate protection and climate adaption – how does that fit?“ – this is the topic of the last talk, held by Susanne Winter from WWF. She speaks about the loss of biodiversity in Germany – which has already crossed a tipping point. “The climatic relevance of forests is huge. About 15-20% of the annual CO2 emissions are caused by deforestation”, Winter says. According to her, the usage of wood is not sustainable per se, referring to wood that is used for energy generation. “Forests work as a carbon sink. But this sink function has decreased”, she says. While German forests were storing 75.500 tons of CO2 in 1990, in 2016, they only absorbed 57.000 tons of the climate gas. There will be a point when forests work as a source of CO2 instead of a sink – for example when deforestation continues, if swamp soils are used by the agricultural sector for crop production or if peat is extracted to the same extent or even more than now, Winter says. In the audience, a few people show with their reactions that they don’t agree with Winter’s words: A lady – the print of her jumper reveals she is part of a forestry society in Lower Franconia – rolls her eyes and throws up her arms, a gesture of obvious frustration.

At the end of the event, the title “Controversies of the forest” is just perfectly accurate. We don’t know yet what the future with a changing climate will bring and how the forests are going to react to these alterations. Different measures for mitigation do exist – but the human factor is hard to estimate. Also, regarding some of the reactions of people in the audience, it is obvious that many different parts of the German population are differently affected by changes in the forest – and that their expectations, hopes and fears need to be considered. But this requires a lot of work and a lot of communication. But as the example of Christian Ammer’s friend Sepp (and his daughter) showed: There is a way. With enough patience, solutions can be found.

The post Waldkontroversen: How will the forest deal with climate change? appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

These words still resonate in my head while I come back from my meeting with Johannes Schwegler, CEO of Fairventures Worldwide.

Johannes is a wood engineer who has spent his 30s living on the Kapuas riverside, teaching forestry and wood processing to Indonesian students. From his house on stilts, he used to watch huge boats transporting trees older than he could ever been. He was aware that these trees were cut from the primary forest, that they were taken from a peaceful life and brought out of their untouched environment in order to make place for palm oil. Johannes knew that this type of tree harvesting was not sustainable, not only because it ended the life of monumental trees, but also because it disturbed water cycle, increased soil erosion and threatened biodiversity.

An indigenous Dayak woman who joined the program © Fairventures Worldwide

Worried by this unsustainable practice, Johannes decided to take action. He created Fairventures Worldwide, a NGO which empowers farmers with sustainable practices. Unlike many non profit organizations which restore the landscape by planting trees, Fairventures Worldwide sows the seeds of knowledge and good practices in the minds of the Dayak people.

The Dayaks are the native people of Borneo, they traditionally manage the land by cutting the primary forest, burning it and cultivating on the newly deforested area. Fairventures Worldwide prohibits their Dayak partners to use this slash and burn method, for this reason the NGO offers them a sustainable alternative: the agro-forestry.

Farmers care for their trees and crops © Fairventures Worldwide

In an agro-forestry system, crops are cultivated under shade between the trees. To add complexity in this ecosystem and create habitat for the biodiversity, Fairventures Worldwide plants three layers of vegetation. The lower layer on the ground supports peanuts or local vegetable crops, the intermediate layer is made of shrubs such as cacao or coffee trees, and the highest layer is made of fast-growing pioneer trees such as Acacias or Albizias. The latter are used to make engineered lightwood products.

Booth, panels and glued laminated timber made of Sengon at the Trade Expo of Jakarta © Fairventures Worldwide

With the design of new products, such as the lightwood, the non-profit improves the lightwood value chain and introduces it to the Indonesian and global market. Moreover it is in touch with buyers looking for sustainable wood and its derived products. The company is also on the way to certify fifty tons of organic peanut they produce each year and thus sell them in Germany.

An App to monitor trees

Johannes is a social entrepreneur therefore he wants to educate and empower Indonesian farmers. For this reason, his organization is currently developing a mobile application to help farmers monitor their trees. This App will enable them to take a photo of the tree trunk, know its diameter and thus the amount of wood in it. By knowing exactly the value of their trees, they will have a better bargaining position when selling the timber. Moreover a precise monitoring of their trees will help farmers get the highest amount of timber by cutting their stand at the optimal harvest time which is yet a widespread practice in Indonesia.

Johannes Schwegler (right), Wolfgang Baum (left) visit a tree nursery operator © Christof Krackhardt/ Brot für die Welt

Thanks to Fairventures Worldwide, about 1000 Dayak farmers have switched their field into an agro-forestry system. These farmers have a sufficient income to live on the timber production and don’t cut the primary forest anymore. The success of this management doesn’t go unnoticed in the region and by word of mouth more farmers are reaching the company to get advice and learn sustainable practices.

The company has almost reached its first goal of planting 1 million trees and is moving toward its second goal: planting 100 million trees. In the future, Johannes also wants to engage in the Orangutan conservation effort. He is starting a partnership with WWF and BOS, the wildlife protection organizations, to connect primate populations by planting nest and food trees on farmers field. Thanks to this wildlife corridor, animals will move between tropical forest patches and access new habitats.

Although we may judge those who deforest, kill biodiversity and contribute to climate change, we often tend to forget that these are sometimes not evil but just people in need – struggling for a daily meal and a future. These are the realities happening in contrast to the European or American ones, where people enjoy a comfortable lifestyle with a 9–5 job, three daily meals and a safe future.

Efforts like the ones done by Fairventures Worldwide help indigenous people find an economic alternative to deforestation. Let it be in the form of agro-forestry or of tropical lightwood like Albazia, families are starting to generate a sustainable income from formerly misused landscapes.

Dayak woman harvesting her chili © Fairventures Worldwide

Written by Thuan SARZYNSKI

The post A German Social Entrepreneur is Saving the Indonesian Tropical Forest appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Since May 2017 the Natural History Museum of Berlin, Germany, showcases a special exhibition focusing on Macaws (Aras). Right after passing by gigantic dinosaur skeletons in the entrance of the museum, the visitor enters a room with a South American atmosphere and dozens of colorful specimens of Macaws.

From fact sheets pinned to the walls we learn that macaws face several threats. Habitat loss due to the clearing of woodland for the means of tropical wood harvesting, grazing grounds, arable land, and mining, is the most severe threat. Especially in the Amazonian and Cerrado region, where the natural habitat of the birds is lost at an immense speed. Being highly adapted to certain trees for feeding and nesting, macaws cannot easily find new homes.

Another reason for the decline in macaw populations is illegal trade and poaching. The pretty birds are very popular as pets, especially because of their intelligence and social personality. Sadly, the typical human friendly behavior of macaws is based on the lack of alternatives after the birds are taken away from their families.

As a result, many of the macaw species are listed in the IUCN red list of threatened species. The Blue-throated Macaw and the Spix’s Macaw for example are categorized as critically endangered.

Threatened macaws: How does this relate to us – to you?

The destruction of the Ara’s habitat is largely triggered by the global need for soy. Germany, for example, imports more than 6 million tonnes of soy each year and the vast majority is grown in South America where the macaws live. An estimated 2.2 million hectares of land is dedicated to the production of soybean for Germany.

Now, people assuming only vegans with their tofu and other soy based items are responsible for this high demand, are wrong. In fact, soy for tofu comes mainly from organic productions from within the European Union.

The quoted number is used to feed pigs, cows and poultry. One meal of traditional roast pork alone destroys two square metres of potential macaw habitat. According to the fact sheets at the exhibition, the entire German Federal State of Thuringia would need to be converted to arable land with soybeans to satisfy the meat industry’s demand for this fodder.

As a logical conclusion, less meat in your daily life helps to protect the lives of the beautiful macaw species in South America!

More information on the exhibition can be found here. The Natural History Museum in Berlin is definitely worth a visit. It showcases earth history, evolution, dinosaur skeletons, minerals and much more in a very informative way – and with special student price of only 5 €.

The post Macaws in Berlin: how our food choices threaten the popular exotic birds appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Two seconds

Three seconds

Four seconds

Five seconds

Every minute, forest areas of the size of 50 soccer fields are lost.
Every minute, every day.

Today, March 21st 2018, we celebrate the International Day of Forests. Ever since 2013, this date calls for global awareness on the degrading state of forests worldwide. It takes only one day in our calendars for us to remember how dependent mankind’s survival is on the  lungs of the planet.

With the current rate of deforestation, there will be no forests left within the next 100 years. The loss, degradation and conversion of forests threaten our survival.

“We are on the verge of destroying the perfect balance that nature has created for the wellbeing of human beings. Halting deforestation is not about saving the planet , it’s about ensuring the human well-being. The Earth will survive us and has done so for 4.5 billion years, she is much older and wiser.“
– Christiana Figueres (Former UNFCC Executive Secretary, 2018)

Certainly, once forests or green shelters and sources of life are lost, services and goods provided by nature also disappear. The maintenance of human well-being is then a question of time: how long can we survive with a degrading nature around us? Certain regions of the world already know the devastating answer.

Photos by Carla Madueño

We can stop thinking drama, and start thinking solutions

Today, we must talk about hope and urgency put into action. And there are certain actors and voices out there that I would like to remind you of today: Youth.

On the international day of forests, I want to send a big call to Youth around the globe teaching us every day how to stand on our young feet for a forest-friendly society.

• Youth teaches us that warriors can all have all ages, since what really matters is the strength of the own conviction.
• Youth teaches us that they are real cultural and intergenerational bridges that catalyze people’s fears and challenges.
• Youth teaches us that inclusive dialogue and participation is possible and necessary.
• And among all, youth helps people recover relations with the forests.

Youth is key in healing a broken world, through intergenerational reconciliation.

If you don’t believe youth can be an empowering and strong ally to protect forests, here are some examples:

Planting trees with only 9 years old: Back in 2007, a 9-year old German boy Felix Finkbeiner inspired by a school assignment imagined children planting 1 million trees in every country on Earth. His movement spreaded quickly throughout Germany and the Globe and by 2011 achieved with the help of other children planting a total of 1 million trees around the world.

Two sisters from Bali banned plastic from entire island: The Wijsen sisters from Bali are the living example that empowered and determined youth can solve the plastic pollution challenge. The young sisters, Melati and Isabel, successfully campaigned 4 years to get plastic bags banned from the Bali island. Indonesia is the 2nd largest plastic polluter in the world, after China.

“If we could meet with world leaders and speak to them, we would tell them to listen more to the youth, consider us as more than just inspiration. We have bright innovative ideas of how to deal with some of the greatest issues of our time”
– Wijsen sisters

Leave the smartphone, reconnect with your closest forest

May our decisions enlighten not a brighter future, but a greener present. Science and politics talk about changes to be carried out by 2030, 2050 or next millenia to protect forests. I believe that we simply cannot wait for decades to solve our greatest challenges.

On March 21st 2018, we stand for a change – now and not tomorrow.

Today, take a moment off, go to the closest forest or green space in your city, your village or town. Think about the impacts of your lifestyle, reconnect with nature, discover life beyond human beings and beyond the concrete jungle.

Meditate on the lives on the other side of the smartphone. Celebrate the hidden, still unknown and sheltered life in our green forests (and outside the scope of the International Day of Forest, celebrate also life in our blue oceans).

Stop thinking drama,
Start thinking solutions,
Stand up for forest protection
Empower Youth as forest warriors.

The post A youth pledge on forest’s day appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

But why is the demand for palm oil that high? It is everywhere, literally. We can find it in our food – the most famous example might be Nutella – but also in other groceries like muesli or pastry. Sanitary products like body lotions, shower gels, deodorants – a huge majority of them contains palm oil. The oil is obtained from the shell of the fruit by pressure. The fruit of the oil palm is much more effective – compared to sunflowers or rapeseed which both are also used for oil production, the oil palm needs much less area to grow. As we are living in a consumption-based society, the call for more palm oil gets louder; the number of plantations is rising and thus the area of pristine tropical forests is shrinking.

Ecological and financial impacts of the palm oil industry

According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the impacts of palm oil production are alarming: Fire clearing leads to habitat loss and fragmentation of habitats that are normally home to many endangered species. The fires of the burning forests release substances into the air such as carbon dioxide. They pollute the air and have therefore heavy impacts on the health of the people living in the areas where fire clearing is actually happening. WWF also mentions climate change as a consequence because tropical forests are major carbon sinks – by burning them, the CO2 stored in the plants is released into the atmosphere and thus accelerates the warming of our planet.

A FAO report from 2014 revealed that the top exporters and therefore also top producers of palm oil are Malaysia and Indonesia. A figure in this report shows that India and China are by far the biggest importers of the oil produced in South East Asia: India bought palm oil from Indonesia for 4340 million dollars, China came close by spending 2389 million to Malaysia and 1868 million dollars to Indonesia. Obviously, the palm oil market is booming. But Germany can’t deny its own portion of the share: It is one of the major importers of Malaysian palm oil as well. According to a WWF Germany report, Germany imported 1,5 million tons of palm oil in the year 2013; most of that palm oil is used for bio fuel and food production.

Alternatives don’t solve the problem

Palm oil is evil – this thought has been fixed in the minds of many. But there is (as in so many cases) also another side of the medal. In 2016, the WWF Germany has published a report about the consequences of palm oil cultivation. In this report, also alternatives are analysed: It finds that replacing palm oil with alternative oils like coconut or soy oil would even worsen the situation because they need much more area to grow and produce less oil.

The solution for this dilemma is actually quite simple. If we stopped using palm oil as biomass fuel and if we established a more conscious consume of chocolate, chips, other sweets and instant meals, we could reduce the current use of palm oil by 50%.

But instead of only saying if, if, if we should start acting. Therefore, I am going to start an experiment next week: I want to figure out, which products in my day to day life contain palm oil or palm-oil-based ingredients and try to reduce them. In the last year, I already tried to reduce the use of those products, but I guess that there is still a lot to do. But as the WWF example showed, a total ban of palm oil is not the way to go. That is why I also want to check for alternative solutions or ideas how to replace products that are a threat to our environment.

The post The price for soft skin and a sweet breakfast appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Being the only participant from Armenia, I would like to share my experience as well as do my best in involving Armenians in the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15.2 Halting deforestation target.

To halt agriculture or not – that is the question

Since a lot has been said about the conference, I would rather concentrate on its “gaps”. One fundamental statement of the conference was “industrial agriculture is the main driving force of deforestation”.

But first wait. Do we all know what really drives agriculture? Let’s think about those developing countries whose economies mainly depend on agriculture. Would it be possible for a country that cannot even fill their people’s stomachs to start caring about the environment and the future of the planet? I don’t really think so.

Halting deforestation but promoting at the same time Zero Hunger (SDG goal 2.4) may therefore not align at first sight. The Halting Deforestation conference could have addressed this issue better by focusing on people’s current needs rather than on future political agendas. Discussions left out of sight opportunities for agricultural sustainability that maintains ecosystems, strengthens climate change adaptation capacity and extreme weather resilience (droughts, floods, and other disasters) as well as progressive improvement of land and soil quality.

Yes. 80% of deforestation is caused by agriculture,  but for some countries agriculture is the only way to keep their economy running and to secure livelihoods.

Other drivers of deforestation that weren’t assessed

Even though the conference served its purpose by reviewing on-the-ground initiatives to combat deforestation, it didn’t directly reduce the risk of nor provide immediate solutions to deforestation. Evidently, there were some drivers of deforestation left out of the discussion:

• Extractive activities: Industrial logging and mining (private sector representatives largely absent)
  
• Energy and transport: biomass energy questions raised by audience never answered)
  

If not aware of the real dangers yet, we can perhaps make an urgent call with the case of Mining in the Amazon Rainforest.

To halt or not illegal mining in the Amazon

In the Amazon region, logging and mining are the main environmental threats. Both destroy the forest and are slowly converting this major carbon sink into a carbon source, counteracting climate change.

Since 2000, mining in the Amazon region has been actively developed, destroying more than 10% of the Amazon Rainforest. According to the WWF, iron, gold and copper are found in the Amazon forest and the overexploitation of these minerals is increasing dramatically.

Gold mining is however not only bad for the environment but has also chronic socioeconomic consequences. As our Peruvian GCE Student Carla Madueño explains in the following lines:

“Illegal mining in the Amazon is a matter of concern for all. This rainforest is also called green gold that must be cut down so that illegal workers can extract the precious gold contained in the soils of protected forests. The use of highly toxic metals (cyanide, metal oxides, mercury, sulfuric acid) poses an immediate health threat to humans and the entire biome. 

Yes 40 % of our Peruvian Amazon soils are rich in gold, but 100% are rich in green gold (biodiversity and ecosystem services).
That is the real opportunity we must not miss, as it is our own human survival that depends on it.

Peru’s rainforests are rich in gold. That is our blessing and curse. 40% of the soils of the Peruvian Amazon region are estimated to contain gold, which has been transported throughout millenia with erosion mechanisms from the upper Eastern Andes to the lower Western Amazon basin.”

Mining in the Amazon forest is by far not the only example. Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Congo basin, Indonesian forests and the Philippines suffer currently under illegal and unmanaged mining.

Take home message: Youth must halt deforestation

We do believe that youth is the future and a strong driver forwards. Any problem can be solved with the support and efforts of the youth. For instance, the Wijsen sisters banned plastic in Bali and the Dutch boy Boyan Slat is fighting for plastic-free oceans.

We believe international youth organizations such as IFSA and the Youth in Landscapes Initiative are as well brilliant examples of youth caring for the environment and connecting cross-sectoral to the rest of the world to figure out solutions now.

About

Main author Lilith Musinian , co-author Carla Madueño.

Related material

• United Youth to halt deforestation (Blog entry here)
  
• Become an export now! IFSA short course on halting deforestation
• Halting deforestation Photo Gallery by FAO Forestry

The post Shortcomings of the UN Halting Deforestation conference appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

The Capacity Development Workshop held on Monday February 19th, was led by the International Forestry Student Association (IFSA), the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) and trained 50 international Youth delegates on accelerating efforts to halt deforestation. Furthermore, Youth proposals were collected for later High Level UN Political Agendas.

Halting or not halting deforestation, that is the question

Forests are our best asset to combat climate change and they are key in securing food, water and ecosystem services for mankind survival. Despite of their fundamental role to sustain life on this planet, we keep on losing them at terrifying annual rates.

With the current rate of deforestation, there will be no forests left within the next 100 years.

Given that deforestation is in the eyes of a conservationist an ecological tragedy and in the eyes of the investor a money-making opportunity, we need to reconcile these opposing interests.

Youth ideas feed UN Plan for Forests

In order to contribute to and accelerate global forest goals and SDGs, the workshop in the morning of February 19th led by Wageningen University (Netherlands) collected Youth proposals for the Halting Deforestation Conference (CPF). Discussions went about how to have an integrated management of lands at the landscape level: where different actors of society, different land use types and different instutional frameworks are best combined to ensure forests protection and sustainable management.

Desmitifying Gender in Forest Conservation Efforts

After the morning session on the Landscape approach, the noon session led by Taylor Tondelli (FAO) touched with the Youth delegates on the importance of mainstreaming gender in efforts to halt deforestation. To see, what we did exactly, check out the video below.

I found this group dynamic to be extremely mind-opening. Participants had assigned roles. We were all standing in one single line and as Ms. Tondelli would read statements we had to give either a step forward (yes) or backwards (no), depending on whether read power statements matched our roles. Example: one would give a step forward if in the role of a woman community leader one would have “political influence on the community” or a step backwards if “at night one wouldn’t feel secure to walk alone”. At the end of this power dynamic, assigned roles revealed high assymetries in power distribution across different societal actors.

Make our voices heard

Throughout the Capacity Development Workshop Youth delegates worked on global proposals to halt deforestation: ideas ranged from experimental urban jungles, to mainstreaming deforestation through comedy and art and music for collective awareness.

All Youth proposals were collected in the afternoon session by IFSA and GLF Sponsored Youth in Landscapes delegates. Youth Proposals to halt deforestation will contribute to the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017 – 2030 and will be presented at the 13th Session of the UN Forum on Forests this May.

Finally, selected Youth delegates prepared online content for the IFSA short course on Halting Deforestation. You can see here, what the results of these hours working on solutions are.

Quick links

IFSA Short course on deforestation Check out now (!)

Halting Deforestation Conference

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Event Date: Monday 13th November , 2017

Location: German Pavillion, Bonn Zone, Freizeitpark Rheinaue

Today I attended a panel discussion on the Peruvian case of Climate Change adaptation, with invited speakers from the Chilean and Ecuadorian Governments.

Latinamerican Importance for COP

Latin America is a highly biodiverse region and on the socioeconomic level also very vulnerable to Climate Change impacts. El Niño among other climatic processes in change are impacting the economic productivity and human security of communities and Cities living across the Latinamerican Pacific coast.

With this economic and political backhground, three countries: Chile, Peru and Ecuador presented today the national measurements these neighbours are undertaking in order to adapt towards a changing climate.

These efforts are of special relevance for COP23, as these countries have started multisectorial approaches to combat Climate Change with a top-down strategy.

Main Outcomes

Alfonso Galarce from the Chilean Climate Change Division, highlighted very concrete and Down-to-Earth Chilean initiatives to Combat Climate Change, i.e. making the Paris Agreement a National and Constitutional Law, promotion of Carbon markets and associated financial mechanisms and the innovative perspective of the country to achieve Energy transition by 2050 with 90% of their energetic supply to become renewable.

Elsa Galarza, Peruvian Minister of Environment,  presented the multisectorial strategy launched together with other 12 Peruvian ministeries (Energy, Agricututre, Fishing, Housing, Transport, etc) to come up with an strategic plan to combat Climate Change from all possible governmental areas. Initiatives presented where cleaner transport systems in the the main City (Lima), as well as the Ministry’s partnership with Global Fishing Watch to guarantee transparency and sustainability in the peruvian fishing industry.

My perspective

The audience and myself celebrated the strong, strategic, transparent and concrete steps Chile is undertaking to combat Climate Change. The top-down approach and the clarity in their environment policies can only strenghthen the Global Climate Action urgently needed, not only from the most polluting countries, but also from the emerging economies of Latin America and the Global South.

Much more join effort is needed. #COP23 #ClimateAction #LessSweetTalk

More infos:

German Pavillion schedule

Panelists: Tarsicio Granizo (Minister of Environment of Ecuador), Philipp Knill (BMZ, Germany), Alfonso Galarce (Ministry of the Environment of Chile), Miriam Morales (Ministry of Transport and Communications, Peru), Pedro Herrera (Ministry of Economy and Finance, Peru), Pedro Belber (Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Peru)

The post COP23: Latin America adapts to climate change appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Presentation of the recent report: a pathway to zero deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute.

Summing up their findings, the speakers underlined the availability of public forests for a potential designation to protected areas. Apart from law enforcement campaigns and credit restrictions for deforestation, the installation of protected areas is a key tool for forest protection. Generally, an active engagement of stakeholders from public and private sectors involved in the related supply chain is required to achieve the goal of zero deforestation.

There is a high pressure within the society to reduce deforestation, however in the current phase of political instability and ongoing corruption, this is not well represented by the officials.

Comparisons on the municipal level showed best conservation performances in districts inhabited by indigenous people. Generally, all instruments for successful forest conservation are already installed but lack in sufficient implementation and enforcement. At the moment the Amazonian rainforests decline by 5000 m² annually. The associated fire events and resulting deterioration of air quality costs the Brazilian health care system 20 mio. USD per year.

A crucial factor in the region is the link between the forest and the rain regime: natural rainforest ecosystems preserve the local climate and therefore maintain the level of agricultural production. Especially important in that regard is the inclusion and information of the agrobusiness sector. With a decreased rate of deforestation, the value of agricultural production increases. This is an incentive for local farmers to support forest conservation. Furthermore, no further deforestation is needed. An increased livestock productivity can be realized by a more effective land-use of the already existing farm lands. A pathway of zero deforestation contributes to the Paris Agreement and should be seen as a vivid contribution to climate conservation.

Less deforestation leads to increases in the agricultural production.

By Sophie Reinermann, Jan-Christopher Fischer and Georg Küstner.

The post COP23: Zero amazon deforestation appeared first on Global Change Ecology.