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Rainforest in the Daintree of Australia. (Photo by N. Butler)
ORGANIZATION
To best meet the complex requirements for rainforest conservation, it is imperative that we balance conservation
efforts between the local, national, and international sectors. Empowerment over forests and their resources should
begin on the local level of individual communities with municipal governments overseeing parks. State agencies—with
guidance and assistance from intergovernmental institutions and non-government organizations (NGOs)— need to help
formulate broader conservation strategies and provide expertise in protecting and managing protected areas. Partnerships
between participants are necessary to fuse scientific, economic, and social information and formulate an overall
plan for the use and conservation of tropical rainforests.
Today many government agencies responsible for biodiversity conservation in the developing world find themselves
financially strained. In addition, in an era of increasing democratization, these organizations are under mounting
pressure from locals demanding access to the large tracts of otherwise productive land held in socially exclusive
reserves. To best address these financial and social pressures, other organizations—foreign governments, intergovernmental
institutions, NGOs, and "green" groups—must step up and provide expertise and financial assistance. However,
government agencies cannot expect to be bailed out completely. They will need to become more accountable to the
needs of local people and to establish measurable objectives, which can be evaluated on a regular basis. In short,
these agencies must increase their productivity and become accountable to their shareholders much like publicly
traded companies.
Governmental Agencies and Policy
Until recently, most governments have sided with the interests of rapid forest exploitation using subsidies
and economic incentives to accelerate the process and earn quick returns. The interests of the local people have
been largely ignored, as have the environmental consequences. These methods are economically flawed because they fail
to weigh the environmental costs of deforestation ranging from soil
erosion to disruption of weather cycles, to drought and floods, to outbreaks of disease. For example, India estimates that it loses 10 percent of its annual
income to environmental degradation, much of this from deforestation-induced soil erosion. If governments starting treating their forests as depreciable natural capital instead of
non-renewable income, they could better determine the costs of deforestation.
Some governments are now beginning to listen to scientists, economists, human-rights activists, indigenous peoples,
and environmentalists, and are adopting pro-environment stances. Developed, industrialized nations see their
chance to help the cause by donating financial support and technical expertise to help initiate new conservation
policies.
Developed nations
Some governments are willing to give loans and even cancel debts owed by tropical nations in exchange for environmental
protection (essentially debt-exchange programs). For example, the British government recently assigned $150 million
to preservation and sustainable development of tropical forests around the globe. Germany cleared Kenya of
its $400 million debt when Kenya agreed to pass environmental legislation.
In the late 1990s, Germany spearheaded efforts by industrialized countries to protect rainforests. In 1996, Chancellor
Helmut Kohl spoke out against the inaction of the rest of the G-8 in not intervening in the increased deforestation
of the Amazon rainforest. Germany is one of the most environmentally progressive of the industrialized countries.
In May 1998, the G-8 announced it would encourage developing countries to protect their forests by offering aid
to countries that made forest preservation a priority.
In his budget for fiscal 2001, President Clinton proposed $150 million in funds to assist developing countries
preserve their tropical forests while strengthening their economies. Under the budget, $100 million would go towards
conservation programs (through the U.S. Agency for International Development—USAID), while $37 million would be
slated for debt-for-nature swaps under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act.
Developed nations can also provide their conservation expertise to developing countries and assist in the planning
of new protected areas. Technology transfers to improve reserve management and monitoring could also be beneficial
in setting aside rainforest for preservation.
Investing to save rainforests
(4/2/2008) Last week London-based Canopy Capital, a private equity firm, announced a historic deal to preserve the rainforest of Iwokrama, a 371,000-hectare reserve in the South American country of Guyana. In exchange for funding a "significant" part of Iwokrama's $1.2 million research and conservation program on an ongoing basis, Canopy Capital secured the right to develop value for environmental services provided by the reserve. Essentially the financial firm has bet that the services generated by a living rainforest — including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and carbon storage — will eventually be valuable in international markets. Hylton Murray-Philipson, director of Canopy Capital, says the agreement — which returns 80 percent of the proceeds to the people of Guyana — could set the stage for an era where forest conservation is driven by the pursuit of profit rather than overt altruistic concerns.
Private equity firm buys rights to ecosystem services of Guyana rainforest
(3/27/2008) A private equity firm has purchased the rights to environmental services generated by 371,000 hectare rainforest reserve in Guyana. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement is precedent-setting in that a financial firm is betting that the services generated by a living rainforest — including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and water storage — will eventually see compensation in international markets.
Norway puts $560m toward rainforest conservation
(12/9/2007) Norway will commit NOK 3 billion ($560m) to rainforest conservation efforts in an effort to slow climate change, reports Aftenposten, a Norwegian newspaper.
REDD will fail if needs of forest communities aren't addressed
(12/7/2007) Initiatives to reduce emissions by reducing tropical deforestation (REDD) will fail unless policymakers adequately address the underlying drivers of forest degradation and destruction, argues a new report published by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
