|
|
ENDORSERS
Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister, Papua New Guinea
Governor Eduardo Braga, Amazonas State, Brazil
Peter Ainsworth MP, Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Conservative Party, UK
Governor Irwandi Yusuf, Aceh Province, Indonesia
Governor Barnabas Suebu, Papua Province, Indonesia
Ian Redmond OBE, Chief Consultant, GRASP (Great Apes Survival Project); Founder and Chairman, Ape Alliance; Co-founder, Elefriends and UK Rhino Group, UK
Manoel Silva da Cunha, National Rubber Tappers Union (Conselho Nacional dos Seringueiros), Brazil
Almir Surui, Chief, Surui Tribe, Rondônia, Brazil
Jane Goodall PhD, DBE, Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute, U.N. Messenger of Peace, USA (and Tanzania)
Roberto Smeraldi, Director, Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, Brazil
Kevin Conrad, Executive Director, Coalition for Rainforest Nations, Papua New Guinea
Pedro Garcia, Association of Indigenous Organisations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), Brazil
Hans Blix, Diplomat and Politician, Former Head, United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission, Sweden
His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Former Kenyan Environment Minister and Founder, Green Belt Movement, Kenya
E.O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, USA
Ian Swingland, OBE PhD DSc, Emeritus Professor of Conservation Biology and Founder, DICE, University of Kent, UK
Sir Ghillean Prance, FRS, VMH, Professor and Former Director, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK
Carlos Nobre, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Institute of Space Research and Chair, Scientific Committee of IGBP, Brazil
Antonio Donato Nobre, PhD, Senior Researcher, National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), Brazil
Carlos Minc MP, Minister of Environment, Federal Ministry of Environment, Brazil
William F. Laurance, Professor and Senior Staff Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama
Professor Roger Kitching, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Alison Jolly, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, Biology and Environmental Science at University of Sussex, UK (and Madagascar)
John Grace, FRSE, Professor and Head, Institute of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, Edinburgh University, UK
Peter C. Frumhoff, Ph.D., Director of Science and Policy and Chief Scientist, Climate Campaign, Union of Concerned Scientists, USA
John Elkington, Co-founder and Chief Entrepreneur, SustainAbility, UK
Professor Virgílio Viana, Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainable Development, Amazonas, Brazil
|
|
|
|
The Declaration
If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change.
Human induced climate change is real and upon us. Deforestation in the tropics and sub-tropics contributes between 18 and 25 percent of global carbon emissions, second only to the use of fossil fuels. Policy debates have been dominated by clean energy solutions, yet forests indisputably offer one of the largest opportunities for cost effective and immediate action and must now be treated with equal urgency. Mitigation must continue across all sectors, including additional limits on industrial emissions, but efforts to meet vital reduction targets by 2030 will be negated unless we tackle emissions from forests now.
This is not just about carbon.
Tropical forests, their soils and peatlands absorb and store carbon, but they also support half the species of life on Earth. This complex of biodiversity maintains our atmosphere and provides vital ecosystem services upon which all of humanity depends. These services include rainfall generation, regional climate regulation, habitat conservation, watershed protection, and soil stabilisation – at local to global scales. Every person on the planet benefits from these services, but none of us pay for them.
Developing nations are the stewards of the world's tropical forests.
They are not responsible for climate change, but its effects will fall heavily on those with the least resources to adapt. Their forests sustain the livelihoods of 1.4 billion of the world’s poor, and with no other source of fuel, fodder or income many of them have no choice but to degrade forests to survive. Unless addressed urgently, climate change will lead to decreased agricultural production, increased poverty, forced migration and human conflict. Dealing with forests now will help the poor and address food, energy and environmental security for everyone – increasing the likelihood of meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Forest peoples, communities and governments need real incentives to maintain and grow their forest capital.
Deforestation and forest degradation are driven by external demands – for timber, beef, soya and biofuels – which destroy trees for land, raising the stakes of global warming. Yet tropical forests continue to be excluded from carbon markets that could provide the alternative strategies needed. Instead, perverse incentives are in force, encouraging continued conversion and degradation of forests and discouraging their restoration and capacity to contribute to sustainable development. The science is now clear and the technology is available, however conservation alone has proven no match for commerce. There is not enough donor funding available to have the large-scale impact necessary, but new market mechanisms can sustainably provide the additional sources of finance required.
Action on forests now is a win against climate change, a win for vital forest ecosystems, and a win for the whole of humanity
6 Calls to Action Back to top
We therefore call on Governments to:
1. Ensure that carbon credits for reduced emissions from deforestation and the protection of standing forests are included in all national and international carbon markets, especially those created by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
2. Simplify and expand carbon market rules, including the Clean Development Mechanism, to encourage reforestation, afforestation and sustainable forest management.
3. Include tropical forest and land use carbon credits in the European Union Trading Scheme, while maintaining strong incentives to reduce industrial emissions.
4. Encourage early action and new market mechanisms that recognise the value of carbon stocks and forest ecosystem services, and support appropriate voluntary carbon market standards.
5. Provide assistance for developing nations to build capacity to fully participate in the carbon markets, and to evaluate the ecosystem services their forests provide.
6. Incentivise the sustainable use of degraded land and ecosystems, and remove incentives that encourage forest destruction.
 Sign the Declaration Back to top
The Forests Now Declaration has been endorsed by a wide range of organisations and individuals with expertise in forest governance, science, communities, and the economics of deforestation. Add your support now:
|
|
