African countries in forest climate change pledge

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: African countries in forest climate change pledge Tree by tree, more than a dozen African governments pledged to restore the continent’s natural forests at the United Nations climate talks in Paris. The earth has lost more than half its forests over the course of human history, according to the World Resources Institute. The deforestation of the world’s tropical forests has contributed to climate change by producing up to 15 per cent of global carbon emissions, the organisation said. The AFR100 initiative is a pledge by African nations to restore 100 million hectares (1 million sqkm) of forest by 2030, according to the organisation. “As the world forges a climate agreement in Paris, African countries – which bear the least historic responsibility for climate change – are showing leadership with ambitious pledges to restore land,” said Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute. Wanjira Mathai, daughter of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, described the AFR100 forest restoration project as unprecedented. “I have seen restoration in communities both large and small across Africa, but the promise of a continent-wide movement is truly inspiring,” said Mathai, chairwoman of the Green Belt Movement founded by her mother. “Restoring landscapes will empower and enrich rural communities while providing downstream benefits to those in cities. Everybody wins.” During the Global Landscapes Forum at the UN climate talks, the World Bank and the German government and other partners, set aside more than $1 billion in development funding and $540 million in private funding for the African reforestation. More than a dozen African countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, have pledged millions of acres to the project. West African nations along the Sahara desert have also pledged to plant more trees to stop the ever-encroaching desert from destroying more arable land. “Restoration is not just an environmental strategy, it is an economic and social development strategy as well,” said Bright Msaka, minister of environment and sustainable development in Malawi. Among the pledging countries is Madagascar, where the island forests are home to some of the world’s most unique plants and animals, all under threat from deforestation. Satellite images of the island show forests that have been slashed and burned, according to the World Wildlife Foundation. But these pledges may face challenges from the global timber industry, exacerbated by illegal logging, which is the biggest cause of deforestation, according to environmental protection group Greenpeace. Corruption has undermined reforms to the timber industry, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where protected wildlife areas are increasingly disturbed, according to Greenpeace. If this initiative succeeds, it would improve the lives of people living around forests and to the ecosystem as a whole, said Victorine Che Thoener, leader of Greenpeace’s Congo Basin project. “But many of these African countries make these pledges in the hope that they will receive funding,” said Che Thoener, who is based in Cameroon, one of the Congo Basin countries that have signed the pledge. “There’s a lot of talk, but not a lot of action on the ground.” Answer to warming still up in the air It’s the option climate negotiators here are loath to talk about. What if they fail to curb global warming and the environment gets so dangerous that someone decides to do something drastic and play mad scientist? Should nations purposely pollute the planet to try to counteract man-made warming and cool the world? Scientists are pretty sure they can do it, but should they? The issue is called geoengineering – purposely tinkering with the planet using methods such as putting heat-reflecting particles high in the air, installing mirrors in space and seeding the oceans with iron. No one is talking about doing it – yet. But Harvard scientist David Keith has been working on plans to test what he calls solar geoengineering on a very small scale. He said: “The next generation of our kids will make decisions about this as we deal with climate risk, whatever we do. If we decide not to have a research programme, we give them the gift of ignorance.” news@7days.ae Read the original story at: African countries in forest climate change pledge