The RSPB works in some amazing places in the UK. But as the world’s climate negotiators are meeting in Paris to try to reach agreement on how to tackle climate change, it is timely to also remember the key role of tropical forest conservation in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and how the work of the RSPB and the Birdlife partnership is helping reduce carbon emissions and protect wildlife and people.
You might be wondering why the RSPB is involved in this work. Well, we have always acted internationally where the need is great and where, through partnership, we can make a material difference. The case to work on tropical forests is, of course, compelling...
...every four seconds, we lose an area of forest the size of a football pitch, 13 million hectares per year....deforestation accounts for between 15 and 20% of all human-induced emissions; more than the EU, more than all of the World’s transport....the loss of natural tropical forests is a catastrophe for wildlife....tropical forests are the most ecologically rich of all types of ecosystem....they are home to at least 70% of the world’s plants and animals, more than 13 million species. ...71% of all globally-threatened bird species depend on tropical forests
At the negotiations themselves, the RSPB’s Principal Climate Advisor John Lanchbery, is highlighting the importance of forest ecosystems for carbon and wildlife. He is working with other NGOs to ensure that proposals to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) are enshrined in the Paris Agreement. This will ensure we have an anchor for implementing decisions on REDD+ agreed at previous UNFCCC negotiations (COP 19 and COP 20). Embodying REDD+ in the agreement is especially important for poorer and smaller countries such as Sierra Leone where the RSPB is working on a very special forest project.
Stressing the vital role of forests more publicly, this weekend sees the “Global Landscapes Forum” in Paris - what used to be more simply and more clearly called “Forests Day” and held at every COP. The RSPB (including Jonathan Barnard who heads up our Tropical Forest Programme), together with many BirdLife Partners will be showcasing our tropical forest work. Below, Jonathan provides an update on our work in West Africa.
The Gola Rainforest by Jonathan Barnard
One of the flagships of BirdLife’s Forests of Hope programme, the Gola Rainforest, spreads across Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa – a last but significant remnant of the once great Guinea forest that spread all across the entire region. The RSPB is proud that we have worked in partnership with the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone and the Government of Sierra Leone for 25 years to protect and restore this amazing forest. Gola harbours 60 globally threatened species such as the enigmatic pygmy hippo, yellow-casqued hornbill (see below) and beautiful Diana monkey, and directly benefits approximately 24,000 people living in 122 forest edge communities: people who are the poorest of the poor.
Our partnership has endured the horrors of both civil war and the world’s worst Ebola outbreak. But as we celebrate our silver anniversary, we are also able to celebrate far more: the culmination of five years work to quantify and independently audit the impact of our work in preventing CO2 emissions from deforestation as well as the benefits to wildlife and people that is our core conservation and development work.
We were excited therefore that this month the Gola REDD project successfully passed its independent audit against the two leading standards on the voluntary carbon market; demonstrating that we avoided the emissions of 1.19 million tonnes of CO2 over the period between August 2012 and December 2014. This is an enormous number and may seem somewhat abstract in our daily lives. But if we imagine a family car setting off from Sierra Leone this morning, and imagine that it is somehow able to circumnavigate the globe 76,000 times, then this gives you some idea of the amount of CO2 that the Gola project has prevented every year from being emitted through deforestation.
So, conserving tropical forests can play an enormous role in reducing CO2 emissions and mitigating climate change, but the challenge is how the grand commitments in meetings such as Paris translate into reality on the ground. This is where carbon markets can play a role. Through quantifying the reduced CO2 emissions from our work we are able to enter the baffling world of carbon trading, and enable companies and individuals to purchase carbon credits that quantify real savings in CO2 emissions and provide benefits to nature and people. We hope that this will be a mechanism to continue to pay for the globally important work in conserving the Gola Rainforest in years to come.
This is the very first project of its kind in West Africa, thereby demonstrating Sierra Leone’s leadership in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and showing how a strong civil society partnership like BirdLife can deliver truly ground-breaking work. We are truly the power of many.
If you would like to help our work in Gola, you can donate to this project here.