Did you notice that yesterday was International Forest Day?
Unfortunately that message got a bit lost in all the concern about Coronavirus,
so I’ll just talk a bit about it here. The
two events are not unconnected. For example, John Vidal, writing in the Guardian,
notes that it is precisely activities such as the clearing of rainforest which exposes
humans to hitherto unknown pathogens, Ebola being a case in point and Zika another.
What forests do for us
There is no doubt that forests are repositories of boundless diversity with
up to 80% of the world’s plants, insects and animals being found there, but they also do many things for us, apart from supplying timber, firewood, food, paper, packaging, medicine and even fibre. They
all sequester carbon and the Amazon alone – what’s left of it, supplies around
20% of the world’s oxygen. They trap pollutants and clean the air and influence
weather and rainfall. They also trap and filter water, slow run –off, bind soil and
prevent erosion. And if that wasn't enough, they also provide cooling, warm cold places and create wind breaks.
See the lovely clips below for more.
2020
The children might appreciate this one from last year.
So what do we need to
do for forests
It goes without saying that we should protect forests as
much as possible. Please take note Victoria, Australia, which has already lost half
its tree cover due to bushfires. While trees are technically a renewable
resource, existing forests have more biomass and provide a more complex habitat
that can support more species than newly planted ones, especially if the new trees
are a monoculture plantation of some kind. Young trees also convert far less carbon dioxide than established
ones and, according to Tatiana Schlossberg in “invisible consumption” (2019: 189)
studies have shown that it will take ”decades if not centuries” to make up for
the carbon released by cutting or burning.
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| Under Threat -The Toolangi Forest, Victoria |
Unfortunately, due to a loophole, the UN only counts carbon
released by cutting trees but not that from burning them. This has led to
substitution of wood pellets for coal in many industrialised countries such as
the UK and even poster child Scandinavia, a false economy when counting emissions
as more wood or more wood pellets are required to give the same energy yield as
coal. Not that I am advocating for more
coal or nuclear or gas, since they all have their problems, only that we need to
look for better solutions. In the
meantime, if your trees have gone and or you must still cut them, then do what
Scotland and Bangladesh are doing -plant, plant, plant as quickly as
possible. Make sure too, that wherever you live, that any timber or wood
products you buy – decking, furniture etc. come from accredited sustainably- harvested sources.
In this context I want to put in a special plea for the Congolese
Rainforest which is currently under threat from all the usual suspects –
mining, illegal logging, roadworks and the demand for timber, fuel and
agricultural land. This is the concern of Ugandan environmentalist, Vanessa Vash, the
young woman whose image was cropped from the photos of young activists at the
World Economic Forum. In much of the Congo,
it is however, the demand for wood for cooking and charcoal –making (also
mostly used for cooking) which drives much of the deforestation.
Africa's proposed new road and rail projects bring some benefits but will also cause major disruption, especially to Subtropical regions such as the Congo.Sub Saharan Africa isalso most vulnerable to Climate Change
Although the UN initiated Program Sustainable Energy for All seeks to ensure that all have access to clean energy by 2030, it is falling
behind in its schedule. It’s most recent report states that although 89% of the
world now has electricity of some kind, 840 million do not, and 573 million of
those live in Sub Saharan Africa. In addition 3 Billion people still do not have
clean cooking solutions, again, 2.5 billion of them in Africa. Both renewable electricity supply and cooking
solutions sound like massive green industry opportunities to me. What’s needed is a visionary like Irish businessman, Denis O'Brien
who, with limited local materials, was able to provide cheap mobile phone
coverage to most of Vanuatu’s 83 scattered islands, long before Australia had decent
coverage outside its major cities.
The global demand for wood powered energy needs to be fixed as
well and at the very least be counted in emissions. Among those things which you can do personally
to help, is to make sure too, that wherever you live, that any timber or wood
products you buy come from accredited sustainably harvested sources. Some
of the sources – not always reliable, can be seen on the map below the graphic.
Many countries such as Australia, Members of the European Union and the USA
prohibit imports of uncertified products, but illegal logging continues.
Indonesia, whose forests are being depleted even more quickly,
has just begun to export its first shipments of accredited timber. Although logging
in native forest has declined somewhat in consequence, problems regarding
enforcement and corruption remain.
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| Countries which officially practice sustainable logging |
On a more cheerful note, especially if you are stuck
in self isolation or quarantine, I leave you with some delightful forest scenes and sounds.
*Tatiana Schlossberg, “inconspicuous consumption,” (2019,
Grand Central Publishing, New York)
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