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Deforestation:
The hidden cause of global warming (Daniel Howden, 2007/05/14):
- “In
the next 24 hours, deforestation will release as much CO2 into the
atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. Stopping the loggers is the fastest and cheapest
solution to climate change. So why are global leaders turning a blind
eye to this crisis?” … “The accelerating destruction of the
rainforests that form a precious cooling band around the Earth's
equator, is now being recognised as one of the main causes of climate
change. Carbon emissions from
deforestation far outstrip damage caused by planes and automobiles and
factories ...deforestation accounts for up to 25 per cent of
global emissions of heat-trapping gases, while transport and industry
account for 14 per cent each; and aviation makes up only 3 per cent of
the total”
[http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2539349.ece]
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The Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF) released a
report on the “Human Impact of Climate Change”
(called “The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis”) (29 May 2009).
Kofi Annan, the president of the GHF, wrote the report introduction –
“Message from the President” in which he makes the following statement: “Ninety-nine
percent of all casualties occur in developing countries. A stark contrast to
the one percent of global emissions attributable to some 50 of the least
developed nations. If all countries were to pollute so little, there would be
no climate change.” Annan’s blame it all on the U.S. approach neglects
the reality.
The Executive Summary states: “Already today, hundreds of thousands
of lives are lost every year due to climate change. This will rise to roughly
half a million in 20 years. Over nine in ten deaths are related to gradual
environmental degradation due to climate change – principally malnutrition,
diarrhoea, malaria…It is a grave global justice concern that those who
suffer most from climate change have done the least to cause it. … Climate
change threatens sustainable development and all eight Millennium Development
Goals. … climate change is already responsible for forcing some fifty million
additional people to go hungry and driving over ten million additional people
into extreme poverty.”
What the GHF and others neglect is that the local
environmental problems in these “innocent” countries are the result of
rampant population growth and the associated deforestation.
See: www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/HumanImpact.htm
for more details on the GHF
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REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation)
“Africa: Tackling deforestation is critical”
[http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/14014]:
“REDD
acknowledged the need to fund the developing world's efforts to fight
deforestation, but it was still unclear how this would be done, said Peter
Frumhoff, main author of the IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land-use Change
and Forestry, and Director of Science and Policy at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, a US-based nonprofit advocacy group. One of the options in the
REDD programme is that countries fighting deforestation could be rewarded
with carbon credits, which they could sell to rich countries to meet their
emission targets. Under the Clean Development Mechanism, one of three options
offered by the Kyoto Protocol, the industrialised world can use carbon
credits to reach their emission reduction targets.”
In other words Kyoto is not really about reducing CO2 – it is about
transferring funds to “developing” countries.
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The United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported in October 2006 that deforestation
accounts for 25 to 30 percent of the release of greenhouse gases [http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000385/index.html].
The report states: “Most
people assume that global warming is caused by burning oil and gas. But in
fact between 25 and 30 percent of the
greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year – 1.6 billion tonnes
– is caused by deforestation. … Delegates of the 46 developing countries present
at the Rome workshop signalled their readiness to act on deforestation, 80
percent of which is due to increased farmland to feed growing populations.
… But they also stressed that they needed financial help from the developed
world to do the job.”
From 1990 to 2000, the net
forest loss was 8.9 million hectares per year. From 2000 to 2005, the net
forest loss was 7.3 million hectares per year. [http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/28821/en/]
- The
ten countries with the largest net loss of forest per year (2000
– 2005) are: Brazil, Indonesia, Sudan, Myanmar, Zambia
Tanzania, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, and
Venezuela (combined loss of 8.2 million hectares per year).
- The
ten countries with the largest net gain of forest per year (2000
– 2005) are:
China, Spain, Viet Nam, United States, Italy, Chile, Cuba,
Bulgaria, France and Portugal (combined gain of 5.1 million hectares per
year).
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Al Gore –
“An Inconvenient Truth”:
- Page 227: “Almost 30 % of the CO2 released into the atmosphere
each year is a result of the burning of brushland for subsistence
agriculture and wood fires used for cooking.”
- Page 230-231 shows a “six-month time lapse image
of the world at night” from satellite imagery, in which “Africa stands out partly because
of the prevalence of wood fires for cooking.” (Other burning areas can be seen in
South America and Southeast Asia.)
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Greenpeace:
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Africa: Tackling
deforestation is critical
- "People
often do not take into account the main driver of deforestation, which
is very different in Africa, where it is the need for fuel wood,"
said Kevin Conrad, director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations at
the Earth Institute of Columbia University. … Deforestation is responsible for 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon
emissions every year, amounting to one-fifth of the global total, and to
more than the combined total contributed by the world's energy-intensive
transport sectors, according to the Indonesia-based Centre
for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). "Deforestation
contributes almost as much to climate change as does US fossil fuel use,"
said Conrad. "Yet deforestation was
specifically excluded from the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which failed to
address this significant source of carbon emissions."
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75868]
- “Sub-Saharan
Africa has long been considered one of the poorest regions on earth
despite its rich biological diversity and mineral wealth. The poor turn
to the forests for subsistence agriculture, the collection of fuelwood,
and the poaching of forest animals for food. The rapid population
growth of the region—among the highest in the world—combined with high
rates of urbanization have promoted these unsustainable activities
by creating demand for bushmeat, fuelwood, and other forest products. Fuelwood
makes up more than 8o percent of the total roundwood produced in the region.”
[http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20afrotropical.htm]
The following figures are from
the UN FAO 2007 report on Africa’s forests [ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/a0773e/a0773e02.pdf].
The left figure shows the extent of forest
burning (as detected from satellite data). The right figure shows the
increasing cutting of forests for fuelwood.
 
The UN FAO 2007 forest report [ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/a0773e/a0773e09.pdf] states:
- “in Africa, almost 90 percent of all wood removals are
used for energy”
- “Deforestation
and forest degradation will continue in most developing regions; a
reversal of the situation would depend on structural shifts in economies
to reduce direct and indirect dependence on land. In most developing
tropical countries, agricultural land used for both subsistence and
commercial cultivation continues to expand. Consequently, loss of
forests will continue.”
- “While heating
and cooking will remain the principal uses for fuelwood and charcoal in
developing countries, the use of solid biofuels for the production of
electricity is expected to triple by 2030”
- “Wood
energy could become a motor for the development and expansion of
forestry activities. Progressive policies are required to ensure that
these changes help alleviate poverty in developing countries. … new
energy and environmental policies are making woodfuel an essential
ingredient of energy policy in both developed and developing countries.
In developed countries, it is likely that the use of wood for energy
will continue to increase”
- “For many
developing countries, wood will remain the most important source of
energy. The rising price of oil and increasing concern for climate
change will result in increased use of wood as fuel in both developed
and developing countries.”
These are very telling statements:
“new energy and
environmental policies are making woodfuel an essential ingredient of energy
policy in both developed and developing countries”… and “increasing
concern for climate change will result in increased use of wood as fuel in
both developed and developing countries”.
The environmental policies that are referred to are the anti-fossil-fuel
policies, wherein the burning of wood is deemed preferable because it is
“renewable biomass”. The fact that burning wood releases more greenhouse
gases per unit of energy released than burning oil or natural gas does, is
simply overlooked.
The following figure from the
same report shows the expected increase in biomass burning as a source of
energy. The U.S. can curb CO2 emissions all it wants – globally it will
achieve nothing.
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Congo:
- “Predictions
for future deforestation in Central Africa estimate that by 2050
forest clearance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will
release a total of up to 34.4 billion tonnes of CO2, roughly equivalent
to the UK’s CO2 emissions over the last sixty years. … The Congo
rainforests of Central Africa are of global importance. They form the
second largest rainforest block on earth after the Amazon rainforest,
covering more than 172 million hectares. … Greenpeace’s research exposes
just what a threat the selective logging practised across Central Africa
is to biodiversity and the global environment. ... The impact of
logging infrastructure on the climate is significant but does not figure
in global calculations.” [http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/carving-up-the-congo-exec.pdf]
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Nigeria:
- “Nigeria
and Sudan were the two largest losers of natural forest during the
2000-2005 period, largely due to subsistence activities. At 11.1%,
Nigeria's annual deforestation rate of natural forest is the highest in
the world and puts it on pace to lose virtually all of its primary
forest within a few years.” [http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1115-forests.html]
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Ghana:
- “In
Ghana, about 35% of the land surface experiences severe erosion and loss
of productivity through deforestation and land degradation, amounting to
a 4% loss of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It has also been estimated
that the original 8.2 million hectares of the closed forest in Ghana
have been destroyed, leaving about 1.962 million hectares.
Desertification in Ghana has come about as a result of population
growth, deforestation, high incidence of bushfires and inappropriate
land use practices, such as the slash and burn system of agriculture,
which has caused the expansion of the savannah zone across the
deciduous forest zone to the high rain forest ecozone.” [http://www.povertyenvironment.net/?q=ghana_in_the_fight_against_desertification_and_drought]
- According to National Geographic: “Rain forests help generate
rainfall in drought-prone countries elsewhere. Studies have shown that destruction
of rain forests in such West African countries as Nigeria, Ghana, and
Côte d’Ivoire may have caused two decades of droughts in the interior of
Africa, with attendant hardship and famine.” [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/deforestation/effect.html]
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Kenya:
- “The deforestation of the Mau Forest has continued
unabated, Nuttal said, noting that charcoal burning and farming
activities were the main causes of the destruction. An estimated 11,000
sq km of the forest have been affected by the destruction. Contrary to
conventional wisdom, an estimated 62 percent of precipitation occurs
over land as a result of evapotranspiration from lakes and wetlands and
dense vegetation, particularly forests, which pump ground water into the
sky.” [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=61528]
- “The deforestation that has
occurred in Mt Kenya, Mau, Aberdare, Mt Elgon and Kaptagat forests has
negatively affected watersheds. Due to the loss of forest cover, the
ability of water catchment areas to regulate run-off has been reduced,
with subsequent flooding. The area under forest cover has rapidly
diminished from 165,000 hectares in 1988 to 80,000 hectares in 2003.”[http://www.rio10.dk/index.php?a=show&doc_id=1846]
- “Lake
Nakuru is faced with extinction due to industrial pollution and massive
deforestation in its water catchment areas. Rift Valley Provincial
Commissioner Wilfred Ndolo says river Njoro, the main distributor of
the lake has dried up due to degradation of the Mau escarpment forest.”
[http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=20718]
- “During
the last 30 years, the Lake Nakuru basin has been transformed from a
sparsely populated and densely forested expanse into a region that is
heavily settled, extensively cultivated, and rapidly urbanizing. A
key driver has been the substantial increase in the human population,
resulting from both past and continuing high fertility and extensive
in-migration.” [http://assets.panda.org/downloads/disappearingpart2.pdf]
- A study of the effects of microclimatic changes caused
by deforestation in the Kenyan highlands (American Journal of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene): “the
mean indoor temperatures of houses located in the deforested
area were 1.2°C higher than in houses located in the forested
area during the dry season and 0.7°C higher during the rainy
season” [http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/5/772]
- Kenya’s annual deforestation rate for 1990 – 2005:
12,000 ha / year (total remaining forest: 3.5 million ha). Population:
34 million (60 % rural), growth rate: 2.8 %, fertility rate (children /
woman): 4.8, population doubling period: < 28 years. [http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20kenya.htm]
(42 % < 14 years of age).
See: www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/RS_Kenya.htm
for more details on Kenya’s
deforestation problems
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Tanzania:
- “As much
as 90% of all primary energy consumed in Tanzania is biomass based.
The commercial and industrial energy sectors in Tanzania are extremely
small in relation to the household sector. Virtually, all of Tanzania's
wood fuel comes from forests-over 90% of all roundwood harvests are for
charcoal and fuelwood. As can be expected, much of the demand for
fuelwood is satisfied through deforestation. It is estimated that about
70% of the deforestation in Tanzania is due to fuelwood harvests,
directly or indirectly, with about 30% of the deforestation being the
result of agricultural land clearing. As the economy matures,
deforestation associated with agricultural land use clearing is expected
to grow, increasing emissions of greenhouse gases.” [http://uneprisoe.org/c2e2/issue9s/tanzania.htm]
- “In total, between 1990 and
2005, United Republic of Tanzania lost 14.9% of its forest cover, or
around 6,184,000 hectares. Measuring the total rate of habitat
conversion (defined as change in forest area plus change in woodland
area minus net plantation expansion) for the 1990-2005 interval,
United Republic of Tanzania lost 37.4% of its forest and woodland
habitat.” [http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Tanzania.htm]
- “A
scientific theory has linked the loss of snow on Mount Kilimanjaro to
deforestation and dismissed suggestions that the dwindling of
glaciers on Africa`s highest peak was due to global warming.
Deforestation of the mountain`s foothills is the most likely culprit
because without forests there is too much evaporation of humidity into
outer space. Loss of humidity automatically leads to a reduction in
cloud cover. Clouds play a crucial role in protecting ice from sunrays,
with fewer sunrays meaning faster freezing of water,`` he added, citing
reduced precipitation as another reason for the receding ice cover on
the mountain`s summit.” [http://jisao.washington.edu/print/news/IPP_08-14-08_DeforestationBehindLossofMtkiliSnow.pdf]
The following figure shows the
deforestation around Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro.
See: www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/RS_EastAfrica.htm
for more details on this area
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Mali:
- “Mali
is highly dependent on wood for its fuel needs. Over 90% of energy needs
are met from primary sources such as wood and charcoal. However, Mali
has never had extensive forest cover. Deforestation for the purposes of
agriculture, fuel and building materials has denuded vast areas of Mali.
Livestock grazing then slows the ability of the trees to regenerate. The
lack of trees contributes to desertification.” [www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/explore/journey/mali/downloads/malreport.doc]
- “The
use of fire to manage agricultural land is one of the leading causes of
land degradation; an estimated 14.5 million hectares of pasture are
burned each year, equivalent to 17 per cent of the country“ [http://www.unep.org/pdf/Atlas_Mali.pdf]
See: www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/RS_Sahel.htm
for more details on Mali’s
deforestation problems
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Sudan:
- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report:
“Environmental
Degradation Triggering Tensions and Conflict in Sudan” provides insight
into the environmental crisis. “The most serious concerns are land
degradation, desertification and the spread of deserts southwards by an
average of 100km over the past four decades. These are linked with
factors including overgrazing of fragile soils by a livestock population
that has exploded from close to 27 million animals to around 135 million
now. Many sensitive areas are also experiencing a "deforestation
crisis" which has led to a loss of almost 12 per cent of Sudan's
forest cover in just 15 years. Indeed, some areas may undergo a total
loss of forest cover within the next decade. … The crisis is being
aggravated by degradation of water sources in deserts known as wadis or
oases. "Virtually all such areas inspected by UNEP were found to be
moderately to severely degraded, principally due to deforestation,
overgrazing and erosion," … “The environmental impacts of many of the
[refugee] camps is high, especially in respect to deforestation for fuel
wood. The UNEP study found that in Darfur, extensive deforestation can
be found as far as 10km from a camp. The situation is being aggravated
by brick making in some camps. …At the regional level, two-thirds of
the forests in north, central and eastern Sudan disappeared between 1972
and 2001. In Darfur, a third of the forest cover was lost between 1973
and 2006. Southern Sudan is estimated to have lost 40 per cent of its
forests since independence and deforestation is ongoing," This
is largely driven by slash and burn agriculture and energy demands.” [http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=512&ArticleID=5621&l=en]
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Uganda:
- Global Envision: “Ugandan Forests In Danger”: “The
country's forests are disappearing at an alarming rate of 2% per year,
the highest in the world. Six thousand hectares of trees are being cut
down every month, 72,000 hectares in 2006. At this pace, Uganda's
forests will have gone in 50 years. … With 7.1 births per woman,
Uganda has the second highest fertility rate in the world. Only
Niger, with 7.9 births per woman, scores higher. By 2050, according to
the UN, Uganda's population will have soared to 130 million. Presently,
97% of the population uses charcoal and firewood for cooking. … Deforestation
leads to climate change and drought.” [http://www.globalenvision.org/library/1/1537]
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Malawi:
- The following figure is from [http://www.rippleafrica.org/ripple_funding_trees_update2007.htm],
which states: “Deforestation
in Malawi, Africa, is a major problem, and 30% of the forests have
disappeared in the last 10 years. Deforestation is happening
very quickly on a frightening scale, and there is tremendous pressure on
the natural resources because of the burgeoning population.”
See: www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/RS_Malawi.htm
for more details on Malawi’s
deforestation problems
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Ethiopia:
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U.S.A:
The United States is listed as
one of the top 10 countries in the world with net forest increase. [http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/28821/en/]
The following figure shows the
net flux of carbon to the atmosphere due to land use change. The United
States has the largest land use change carbon sink in the world – i.e. while
much of the world is burning its forests, the US is absorbing the carbon from
the atmosphere. This figure shows: “Cumulative
Emissions of C02 From Land-Use Change measures the total mass of carbon
absorbed or emitted into the atmosphere between 1950 and 2000 as a result of
man-made land use changes (e.g.- deforestation, shifting cultivation,
vegetation re-growth on abandoned croplands and pastures). Positive values
indicate a positive net flux ("source") of CO2; for these
countries, carbon dioxide has been released into the atmosphere as a result
of land-use change. Negative values indicate a negative net flux
("sink") of CO2; in these countries, carbon has been absorbed as a
result of the re-growth of previously removed vegetation.” [http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/maps/co2_landuse.pdf].
The same report also states: “While the majority of global CO2 emissions are
from the burning of fossil fuels, roughly a quarter of the carbon entering
the atmosphere is from land-use change.”
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Species
Diversity
Even though global warming
alarmists pretend that warming will decrease species diversity, the reverse
is actually true. Habitat destruction is the greatest threat to the
world’s species. “Although
tropical forests cover only about 7 percent of the Earth’s dry land, they
probably harbor about half of all species on Earth.” This is
illustrated in the following figure showing species by environment. [http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html]
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Deforestation
by Region
See The UN Food and Agriculture Organization tables on
changes in forested land by country: www.fao.org/forestry/site/32033/en/
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Amazon:
Above from http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html
The World Bank World Development Report “Agriculture for
Development” 2008 [www.worldbank.org/WDR2008]
in a section called “The global environmental footprint of expanding
livestock” stated: “Rapid
growth in exports from Argentina and Brazil has been supported by bringing
new land under cultivation, often at the expense of forests and woodlands. In
the northern Salta region of Argentina, half the area under soybean
cultivation in 2002/03 was previously covered by natural vegetation. Much of
this area included the highly threatened Chaco ecosystem. In Brazil the states of Goias, Mato Grosso, and
Mato Grosso do Sul doubled the area under soybean cultivation between
1999/2000 and 2004/05 by planting an additional 54,000 square kilometers—an
area larger than Costa Rica—much of it displacing ecologically important
savanna woodland (cerrado) and forest. The
mean annual deforestation rate in the Amazon from 2000 to 2005 (22,392 km2 per year) was 18 percent higher
than in the previous five years (19,018 km2 per
year), partly the result of agricultural expansion. Because trees are being burned
to create open land in the frontier states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Acre, and
Rondônia, Brazil has become one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse
gases.”
Retired Director of
Research of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological
Institute, Hendrik Tennekes said: [http://www.remoteviewer.nu/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4856] “We should keep in mind that local
and regional climates respond not only to greenhouse gases, but primarily
to changing land-use patterns. Civilization has a long history of dealing
with unintended regional climate change caused by large-scale deforestation.
The present deforestation in the Amazon basin and in Indonesia threatens to
repeat the many mistakes made in the past. The incessant emphasis on CO2
and its effects on globally averaged temperatures leads many to ignore the
fact that changes in the distribution of precipitation are far more
threatening to agriculture and biosphere than any slight temperature changes.”
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Myanmar:
In May 2008 a tropical cyclone hit Myanmar (the worst
since 1991) causing more than 20,000 deaths. The cyclone had deteriorated to
category 1 by the time it hit the main populated city of Yangon [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24478247/].
Al Gore appeared on that day on NPR to publicly blame it
on global warming [http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080506160205.aspx].
However, a BBC article provides a more balanced evaluation
(“Mangrove Loss ‘left Burma Exposed’ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7385315.stm])
which stated: “ASEAN
secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said coastal developments had resulted in
mangroves, which act as a natural defence against storms, being lost. …
Encroachment into mangrove forests, which used to serve as a buffer between
the rising tide, between big waves and storms and residential areas; all
those lands have been destroyed. … A study published in December 2005 said
healthy mangrove forests helped save Sri Lankan villagers during the Asian
tsunami disaster, which claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people. …
While two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub forest,
up to 6,000 people lost their lives in a nearby village without similar
vegetation.” According to the UN FAO, 20 percent of the world’s
mangrove forests have been destroyed since 1980 [http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000776/index.html].
(Myanmar has the third-largest rate of tropical deforestation in the world,
as shown a previous figure.)
The following figure shows Google satellite imagery for
the area of Myanmar hit by the cyclone – the huge deforested areas are
clearly visible.
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Even the Rainforest
Foundation is smarter than the Global Humanitarian Foundation (or perhaps
it’s just more honest).
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