Private sector funding needed to save forests, says report
Greenwise Staff
15th October 2008
Private, as well as, public sector funding will be needed in the short to medium term to enable the global forest sector to become ‘carbon neutral’, an independent report commissioned by the UK Government has recommended.
The Eliasch Review, Climate Change: Financing Global Forests, is calling on the international community to help rainforest countries to halve deforestation by 2020 and make the global forest sector 'carbon neutral' – by replacing forest loss with new forest growth – by 2030.
The report said that in the long term, the forest sector should be included in global carbon markets, but in the shorter term public and private funding would be required to kick start it.
It recommended that the international community should provide support for investing in new forest growth, where necessary, and estimated that cost could run to $4 billion over five years for 40 forest nations.
Johan Eliasch, special adviser to the Government on Deforestation, and the author of the report, warned that not to heed the report’s recommendations would almost certainly lead to the “worst impacts of climate change” and could be financially devastating.
“Saving forests is critical for tackling climate change. Without action on deforestation, avoiding the worst impacts of climate change will be next to impossible, and could lead to additional climate change damages of $1 trillion a year by 2100,” he said.
He added that including the forest sector in a new global deal could reduce the costs of tackling climate change by up to 50 per cent, therefore achieving deeper cuts in emissions.
“Deforestation will continue as long as cutting down and burning trees is more economic than preserving them. Access to finance from carbon markets and other funding initiatives will be essential for supporting forest nations to meet this challenge,” he said.
The review, which was commissioned in light of the international debate surrounding the potential for a new global climate change deal in Copenhagen at the end of 2009, also recommended that reducing emissions from deforestation should be fully included in any post-2012 global climate deal at Copenhagen.
It also said national governments should develop their own strategies to combat deforestation in forest countries, including establishing baselines, targets and effective governance and distribution of finances.
New Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband welcomed the report and said: “Deforestation accounts for almost a fifth of global carbon emissions. [This report] will help us chart a course to reduce deforestation, help the world's poorest people and cut carbon emissions."