Looking at the forests for the sake of the trees
The overexploitation and mismanagement of Asia-Pacific forests have left nearly 400 million hectares of land cleared of trees or heavily degraded, according to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization
Looking at the forests for the sake of the trees
The overexploitation and mismanagement of Asia-Pacific forests have left nearly 400 million hectares of land cleared of trees or heavily degraded, according to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). To put this into perspective, that’s a total land area nearly as big as the entire Indian subcontinent. Southeast Asia alone has more than 65 million hectares of degraded lands in need of restoration.
The Asia-Pacific has paid a heavy price for the destruction and damage inflicted on its forests. Not only has their productive potential been lost, but stripping the protective functions of forests has also led to massive soil erosion, deadly landslides, siltation of reservoirs and depletion of biodiversity. Reckless clearing and burning of trees have resulted in choking haze and release of huge quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
There are countless reasons why a reversal of these patterns should be a high priority. But can countries afford the intimidating price tag for restoring the region’s degraded forest lands?
Using a typical expenditure of $1,000 per hectare, for reforesting regional land with conventional approaches, it’s easy to see a rapidly escalating bill upward of $400 billion.
But the challenges may not be as insurmountable as many have thought. The reasons for optimism center on the convergence of a number of positive factors.
We are witnessing a new era when awareness and appreciation of the benefits gained from healthy forests have never been greater, such as the unique ability of trees to soak up carbon dioxide. The Paris climate change agreement, concluded under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in late 2015, included national commitments by many countries in the Asia-Pacific to expand forest cover and manage existing forests better.
The universal pledge to combat climate change in Paris is generating unprecedented levels of funding for forestry from governments, donor organizations, bilateral aid agencies, development banks and investment from the private sector. There are also encouraging prospects for substantial increases in funding under the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environment Facility.
Real action in restoring forests, of course, has to ta