The Longer, The Costlier

One report of the United Nations that I regularly seek to read is the” Human Development Report” (HDR). Since 1990, the UN has produced these reports which seem to impact policies around the world. In 1990, the first Human Development Report opened with the simply stated premise: “People are the real wealth of a nation.” This statement couldn’t have been more appropriate. The empirical data these reports use and produce makes it so clear and with little ambiguity how countries are developing and how the people in these countries feel and see these developments. 

In this post and for the purpose of this blog, I am focusing on the 2011 Human Development Report under the theme “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All”. The 2011 HDR clearly argued for the simultaneous addressing of the twin-challenge of sustainability. The report further identified policies on the national and global level that could spur mutually reinforcing progress towards these interlinked goals.

The various environmental challenge including anticipated adverse effects of climate change on agricultural production, access to clean water and improved sanitation, and pollution comes in to compound the issues of the already poor in the society. Under a scenario encompassing the environmental challenges mentioned, the report projected that the average global Human Development Index (HDI) value would be 8% lower by 2050 than under the “base case” scenario, which assumes a continuation but not a worsening of current environmental trends. HDI is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices used to rank countries into four tiers of human development: very high, high, medium and low human development. 

For places like South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, it was projected that average regional HDI would be 12% lower under challenging environmental scenario than it is now by the year 2050. Under a more severe “environmental disaster” scenario, the global HDI value in 2050 would fall 15% below the current baseline — 22% below in South Asia and 24% below in Sub-Saharan Africa, effectively halting or even reversing decades of human development progress in both regions.

As much as I do not like the doomsday prophecies associated with impacts of climate change, sometimes I cannot help but talk about it. The possible impact of environmental degradation, under which climate change falls, is so serious and yet nothing much seems to be done about it. Under any kind of scenario that one wishes to look at with regards to the impact of environmental degradation, the already poor and marginalised people can only get poorer. Billions of people will be worse off in, let’s say 20150, living in extreme income poverty than they are now. The 2011 HDR also projects that environmental calamities would keep some 800 million poor people from rising out of extreme income poverty, under an environmental challenge scenario.

It is a fact that environmental threats are among the major impediments to lifting human development, and their consequences for poverty are likely to be high. But such an obvious challenge is not being addressed head-on in the manner it should be. Many meetings and treaties have come and gone and yet not much has changed for the better. 

The longer action is delayed, the higher the cost will be. We need not wait to say sorry. As each day passes our chances of solving a problem also passes.

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Ghana’s forestry programmes for climate change

Kwame Agyei brings the concluding part of his article, "FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE". He  focuses on Ghana’s forestry programmes for climate change in this piece titled: "Ghana’s forestry programmes for climate change". Kwame Agyei holds a master's degree in Climate Change from the Australian National University (2012). He has worked with the Forestry Commission (FC) of Ghana since February, 2007.  He also holds a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management from the Australian National University (2011) and BSc in Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (2005).

GHANA'S FORESTRY PROGRAMMES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

The main forestry programme with direct relevance for climate change mitigation/ adaptation in Ghana is the REDD+ scheme (USAID 2011). Formal REDD+ activities in Ghana commenced from 2008 when the REDD+ Project Idea Note of Ghana was approved by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). Afterwards, Ghana began a project to ensure that preparatory activities to pave the way for a full National REDD+ scheme are completed by 2014 (Forestry Commission 2010). The preparatory activities have focussed on addressing issues such as the manner by which benefits from the REDD+ scheme will be shared equitably amongst stakeholders as well as the mechanisms by which the carbon stocks conserved and enhanced through the REDD+ scheme will be monitored, measured, verified and reported to meet acceptable global standards. Ghana is well on course to achieve these objectives and the nation is presently piloting REDD+ activities as a final step of the preparatory processes.

The focal point of the REDD+ scheme in Ghana is the Climate Change Unit of the Forestry Commission. The Climate Change unit serves as the secretariat of the National REDD+ Technical Working Group which is within the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

The implementation of the REDD+ scheme in Ghana is proceeding with complementation from other sustainable forest management initiatives which are outlined below. First, Ghana has entered into a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union since November, 2009. The essence of the VPA is to ensure that only legally produced timber from Ghana is exported to the EU. The advantage of the VPA stems from the fact that almost half of Ghana’s locally produced timber is exported to the EU and consequently such an agreement will be helpful in addressing illegal logging (USAID 2011).

The Government of Ghana has also been implementing an ambitious plantation programme under the National Forest Plantation Development Programme since 2001. The programme has a target of establishing 20,000 hectares of tree plantations each year. The programme is being implemented with a variety of stakeholders including the local communities, through the Modified Taungya Programme which incorporates plantation establishment with agriculture, as well as engagement of private developers under the Private Plantation Development Programme.

Ghana has also been systematically implementing the Non-Legally Binding Instrument (NLBI) on all types of forests since 2008. The NLBI was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007 and is focussed on ensuring that forest management interventions are implemented in a transparent manner where all relevant stakeholders are actively engaged and provided with adequate information on all initiatives.
The REDD+ scheme is therefore been implemented within very positive forestry initiatives and interventions in Ghana. It is anticipated that if the support for the scheme is sustained by the government through its relevant agencies, the REDD+ scheme will not only represent an opportunity for Ghana to reap the monetary and other co-benefits associated with sustainable forest management but it will also ensure that the country actively partakes in global efforts on climate change.

CONCLUSION
This article sought to shed light on human induced climate change and the essential roles of forests in climate change. Additionally, the article outlined global and national efforts aimed at incorporating forestry in climate change. The important role of forests in climate change and other essential natural processes which make life as we know it possible should inspire all of us to plant trees, nurture trees, fight the menace of deforestation and support all other forms of sustainable forest management strategies. It is often accurately pointed out that when the last tree dies, the last person dies.

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FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

INTRODUCTION
The earth is becoming warmer as a result of emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through human activities. Global warming or human induced climate change is strongly linked to the higher incidence of extreme weather events globally such as hurricanes and droughts in recent times. For example, heavy rainfall in Northern Ghana this year which have led to unfortunate deaths and destruction of property has been linked to human induced climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their global climate change assessment reports have consistently indicated high to very high probabilities that if the drivers of human-induced climate change are not addressed, our planet may become increasingly un-inhabitable.

This article discusses the curious case of forests which is both a driver of the global warming problem as well as one of the most potent solutions to the problem. Also outlined in this article are strategies that are being undertaken globally and in Ghana to incorporate forestry as a strategy to address the climate change challenge.

THE ROLE OF FORESTS
Deforestation remains a major driver of human-induced climate change. Deforestation is defined as the conversion of forests to other forms of land use. The Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that 13 million hectares of forests globally were degraded or deforested each year from 2000 to 2010 (FAO 2010). A forest area equivalent to the size of Ghana was therefore lost every two years during the last decade. The world currently has an estimated 850 million hectares of degraded forests. The IPCC estimates that about 17 per cent of annual greenhouse emissions are as a result of deforestation and degradation of forests (IPCC 2007).

It can, therefore, be deduced that implementing strategies that will prevent deforestation will contribute substantially to climate change mitigation (or reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere). This method of mitigating climate change is termed as forest carbon stocks conservation and it is attained through sustainable management and use of forests; integrated fire management; management of forest biodiversity and management of protected areas and wildlife.

Forests (management) can help to tackle climate change in other ways too. Forests can aid in sequestering or absorbing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forest management strategies such as afforestation, reforestation and agroforestry increase the stock of forests and thereby enhance photosynthesis which boosts the capacity of the forests to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The trees incorporate the carbon dioxide as carbon in their biomass, soils and even wood products for possible perpetual storage.

Sustainable forests (management) also help forest fringe/ dependent communities to adapt to climate change impacts. Several dwellers of communities adjoining forests in Ghana are engaged in the collection of snails, mushrooms as well as manufacture of pestles and chewing sticks from non-timber forest products for their livelihoods. Additionally, good forest management ensures that the micro-climate conducive for agricultural productivity is enhanced for these communities. These livelihoods would be lost through deforestation and these communities may become poorer. Poor people tend to be very susceptible and have low coping capacities to climate change impacts. Thus, sustainable forest management ensures that there is an enhancement of the livelihoods of these communities to make them better off and consequently enhance their adaptive capacity to climate change impacts.

Forests play other essential roles which are depicted as co-benefits in sustainable forest management interventions that seek to address climate change impacts. These co-benefits include preservation of water bodies, protection of soils from erosion and degradation, and biodiversity conservation.

Global forestry programmes for climate change mitigation/ adaptation
Global negotiations on climate change have led to the development of two major international forestry based climate change mitigation initiatives. These initiatives include the forestry component of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the REDD+ scheme.

The CDM is one of the three mechanisms for reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as outlined in the Kyoto Protocol, which was formulated in 1997 and ratified in 2005. The other mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol are International Emissions Trading and Joint Implementation. The essence of the CDM is to allow developing countries to be actively engaged in activities that results in the reduction of GHGs whereas developed countries have the option to purchase offsets created by these CDM projects to enable them to meet their binding targets. There are a variety of projects under the CDM and these include forestry initiatives such as afforestation and reforestation strategies. The CDM, however, excludes avoided deforestation as a result of difficulty in the measurement of what constitutes avoided deforestation. The CDM has chalked some successes but to date a bulk of all CDM projects (over 80 per cent) emanates from China and India whereas the European Union (EU) have been the main purchasers of CDM offsets. The EU has however indicated that they will be introducing tighter measures for purchasing CDM credits from 2013 and the bloc will only purchase CDM credits from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) who currently account for negligible CDM projects. This position of the EU is likely to have implications for the long term sustainability of the CDM and by extension the forestry component of CDM.

The REDD+ scheme seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from avoided deforestation and forest degradation and (+) to conserve and enhance forest carbon stocks through sustainable forest management (UNFCCC 2011 (Paragraph 70, decision 1/ CP. 16)). The REDD+ scheme therefore incorporates all forest management activities which contributes to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation and poor forest management tends to be associated with developing countries. Consequently, the REDD+ scheme is usually conceptualised as a scheme that results in the flow of funds to developing countries in order to incentivise the requisite sustainable forest management strategies (UNFCCC 2008). The essence of the incentives is to make forest conservation more profitable than clearing of forests. As has been outlined previously, sustainably managing forests will also deliver co-benefits to forest fringe communities. The proposal that led to the evolution of the REDD+ scheme was put forward by developing countries at the Climate Change Conference of Parties at Montreal in 2005 (Streck 2008, pp. 243 – 244). The past eight years have seen enormous negotiations for a global framework for the scheme. Factors such as a sustainable financing mechanism for the scheme, as well as a potent way of measuring, monitoring, reporting and verifying REDD+ activities are yet to be sorted out at the global level. However, through targeted support by the United Nations and developed countries such as Norway, REDD+ activities have commenced in several developing countries including Ghana.

To be continued:
In the concluding part of this article, the writer will throw light on Ghana’s forestry programmes for climate change. Stay tuned!

Author:

Kwame Agyei holds a master's degree in Climate Change from the Australian National University (2012). He has worked with the Forestry Commission (FC) of Ghana since February, 2007. His main job responsibilities at FC involve engaging forest fringe communities as key partners to ensure the successful implementation of forest management operations including community-based reforestation programmes such as the Modified Taungya System as well as prevention of deforestation. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management from the Australian National University (2011) and Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (2005).

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