Protecting and Restoring Forest Carbon in Tropical Africa a Guide for Donors and Funders

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Protecting and Restoring Forest Carbon in Tropical Africa a Guide for Donors and Funders Protecting and restoring forest carbon in tropical Africa A guide for donors and funders KEY March 2011 MESSAGES ABOUT THIS REPORT CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 Bernard Mercer • Jonathan Finighan CHAPTER Thomas Sembres • Joshua Schaefer 8 Protecting and restoring forest carbon in tropical Africa Key messages This report was funded by The Pure Climate Foundation, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation, The Linden Trust for Conservation, The Wetland Trust and the Leventis family. We are very grateful for their generous support throughout the project. KEY MESSAGES KY E MESSAGES ABOUT n Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change THE About the report Conserving and restoring tropical REPORT (IPCC) reports estimate that deforestation forests are cornerstone actions CHAPTER Protecting and Restoring Forest Carbon accounts for about 17 per cent of global 1 in Tropical Africa: a guide for donors and for climate change mitigation greenhouse gas emissions. This is conservative funders is the first report to be published by – carbon losses from forest degradation are CHAPTER The Forests Philanthropy Action Network n Forests will be a cornerstone of global climate treated as zero, because data is uncertain. If 2 (FPAN), a UK registered charity formed change mitigation in the coming decade. all the world’s tropical forests were cleared, McKinsey & Company’s greenhouse gas around 1,331GtCO2e would be released – CHAPTER in 2008 to help coordinate and inform 3 philanthropic support on the whole abatement model estimates that annual equivalent to 30 years’ global emissions range of global forest issues. global emissions need to be reduced by at 2005 levels. i CHAPTER 17GtCO2e by 2020, to avoid an increase 4 The report is the culmination of nearly two in global temperature above 2oC. Of this Tropical Africa has very years of desk and field research, funded by total, McKinsey identifies nearly 50 per cent CHAPTER the Pure Climate Foundation, the David & significant forest carbon 5 of abatement coming from reductions in Lucile Packard Foundation, the Leventis emissions from tropical deforestation and resources, and these are at risk CHAPTER family, the Linden Trust for Conservation, degradation. Beyond 2020, a larger share 6 and the Wetland Trust. of emissions reduction is expected to be n Africa’s tropical forests are at greater risk than those in Latin America and South The aim is to provide an introduction sourced from fossil fuel-related reductions, CHAPTER -East Asia. They are disappearing three and some initial guidance on a broad and as technologies such as carbon capture and 7 storage (CCS) come on stream, and more times faster than the world average: complex topic: which interventions to protect an area the size of Finland (30 million CHAPTER and restore Africa’s tropical forest carbon power generation is provided by renewables. 8 hectares) was cleared between 2000– are likely to be successful and under what 2010, producing the equivalent of 2005 circumstances; and how donors and global emissions from aviation and funders can engage most effectively. shipping combined. i. GtCO2e means gigatonnes (billion tonnes) of carbon dioxide 2 equivalent – see Chapter 1. Protecting and restoring forest carbon in tropical Africa Key messages An historic opportunity now exists to protect the world’s tropical forests Governments, NGOs and the private sector increasingly recognise the n Supporting and prioritising large-scale action. Pilot projects importance of reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation. are important, but large-scale action now is vital. Philanthropy At the December 2009 UN climate meeting in Copenhagen, 190 can be a catalyst, paving the way for governmental donors. KEY countries committed to an international mechanism through which MESSAGES n Suppor ting efforts to secure the best REDD-plus agreement developed countries would pay tropical forest countries for REDD for conservation and restoration. REDD-plus (as currently being (reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation) action, ABOUT negotiated through the UN climate process) risks emphasising THE and some governments and international institutions have made REPORT sustainable management of forests (selective logging) over REDD funding commitments. Philanthropy can play a crucial role conservation (full protection) and enhancement of forest carbon CHAPTER in protecting forest carbon by: 1 stocks (restoration). More funder support for NGOs working to n F unding early action to protect and restore forests. Slow progress secure the best possible REDD-plus outcome is an urgent need. CHAPTER on agreeing international action on climate change, and challenges n P ractical conservation and restoration action. The REDD policy 2 in the framing of REDD are constraining widespread early action to process is critical, but so is on-the-ground action. Funders can protect and restore tropical forests. Charitable trusts and foundations, CHAPTER make a difference by backing ambitious large-scale conservation and individual donors have the option to support on-the-ground 3 and restoration schemes, especially in the early stages. projects and other interventions immediately. Such funding is of CHAPTER critical importance, given the time gap of several years (perhaps Sector-specific guidance 4 as much as a decade) that is likely to occur before governmental The guidance below follows the thematic approach of the report. We and institutional funds come fully on stream. found many opportunities for donors and funders to provide valuable CHAPTER 5 n Suppor ting innovation. Protecting and restoring forests is a support for the conservation and restoration of African tropical forests formidable challenge, yet little funding is currently available for in the forestry, agriculture, and mining and energy extraction sectors, CHAPTER innovative NGOs seeking to develop new and effective responses. and also identify a number of priorities relating to the woodfuels 6 Philanthropic support for entrepreneurial approaches has great challenge, and specific forest protection interventions. CHAPTER catalytic potential. Forestry 7 n L aying the foundations for effective action to protect tropical Converting logging concessions to forest conservation and forests. The state of knowledge on how to reduce deforestation restoration areas. Over 120 million hectares of forest across six CHAPTER 8 and degradation is still very poor, and this is impeding progress Central and West African countries could potentially be allocated (for example, on combating degradation). Donors and funders as concessions to logging companies in the future, equivalent to could make a long-term difference by funding research to the size of France, Germany and the UK combined. The rise of improve data and inform action. payments for REDD means that protecting these forests could 3 potentially become competitive with logging them, in terms of the revenue generated for governments. Protecting and restoring forest carbon in tropical Africa Key messages Supporting timber plantations for domestic markets. Plantations stoves to Kenya’s 6 million rural households could potentially reduce dedicated to meeting the vast domestic demands in tropical Africa fuelwood consumption by 50 per cent, saving up to 8.4 million for timber and woodfuels could help ease pressure on forests and tonnes of carbon a year. Commercialised supply chains have free forests for carbon conservation. Our preliminary calculations, reached millions of households in some countries. using Tanzania and Uganda as case studies, suggest that meeting national timber demand with plantations would require only 5–20 Establishing woodfuel plantations. Woodfuel plantations, especially KEY charcoal plantations near towns and cities, could help reduce MESSAGES per cent of the equivalent area of natural forest. deforestation and degradation by diverting woodfuel production away ABOUT Protecting forests delivers a better outcome for forest carbon from forests. Producing woodfuel from plantations could drastically THE REPORT than ‘sustainable use’ options. Where logging is being practiced, reduce the amount of land required to meet demand for energy, and Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) practices could reduce relieve the pressure of woodfuel harvesting on forests. Taking Kinshasa CHAPTER in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as an example, our 1 carbon emissions, compared to conventional logging. However, compared to conserving an intact forest, these practices still preliminary calculations suggest that all of its annual charcoal CHAPTER result in significant loss of forest carbon. demand could be met from acacia plantations covering 410,000 2 hectares – about 25 per cent of the area of natural forest that Agriculture would be required to grow this volume of wood every year. CHAPTER Ensuring agricultural development in tropical Africa is carbon 3 sensitive. Agricultural development in Africa has shot to the top of Promoting alternatives to woodfuels. While many millions of people across tropical Africa are likely to remain reliant on woodfuels for the CHAPTER the development agenda after many years of neglect. Philanthropic 4 dollars can help ensure that tropical African countries do not replicate foreseeable future, alternative energy sources are viable in many cases: the experience of widespread, commercially driven deforestation seen in biomass briquettes, biogas, solar cookers and liquid petroleum gas CHAPTER some other tropical
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