New strategy for Fiji on deforestation
Updated
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community says it is crucial to consider the rights of resource owners when addressing forest degradation in Fiji. The Secretariat is hosting a workshop this week of industry representatives to discuss ways of reducing carbon emissions caused by deforestation. The workshop will also focus on the effects of climate change.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Dr Sean Weaver, consultant, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), Fiji
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WEAVER: Yes, well partly it's on invitation from Fiji, so that's the first part, but also Fiji has got quite a lot of forests. Some other Pacific Islands also have quite a large area of forest and there are two reasons why that might be interesting from a climate change point of view. One is that forests play a really important role in maintaining resilient landscapes and especially with regard to water supply and mitigating the risk of flooding and if you lose your forests, you lose those services and you can intensify the effects of climate change on your communities. And the other reason is that if you lose your forests, you also emitting quite a lot of carbon dioxide, because all the trees that you have ever seen in the world are all actually made of carbon dioxide. The solid wood, the carbon in that solid wood came out of the air. So when you cut down a forest or you deforest, you transfer that carbon into the atmosphere and that leds to obviously carbon emissions. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and globally, deforestation causes about 20 per cent of all human carbon emissions, so it's quite a big global problem.
COUTTS: Well, what are the state of the forests though in Fiji and if they are degraded to any extent, what effect is that having locally in Fiji on climate change?
WEAVER: Okay, it's common in many Pacific Island countries and other developing countries for not a lot of deforestation as such, but a lot of forest degradation and this relates to the definition of what deforestation is. It commonly means or usually means a reduction in forest cover by about 90 percent and then a permanent change of the land use and many forests logging operations don't actually do that. They just heavy-log a forest and leave a degraded forest behind and so that is not called deforestation and yet you have transferred an awful lot of carbon to the atmosphere in the process. So in Fiji, many native forests in this country are being and have been degraded, and as a consequence, the carbon stocks have declined and gone into the atmosphere and the ability of these forests to provide a range of important eco-system services for human wellbeing has declined.
COUTTS: Well, at this work shop, you are looking at policy development. What's the emphasis within that though? Are you looking at prevention of tree felling and logging, or are you stopping forestation and looking only at reforestation from this point on?
WEAVER: It's basically a combination. The work shop is focusing on forests and climate, looking at the risks and also the opportunities and the opportunities moving forward include protecting existing forests that provide a range of ecosystem services and also reducing the rate of emissions, if that is happening and also increasing the forest cover in certain areas, so sequestration; and when you grow new forest, you are taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it as wood and so this work shop is in the policy side of it is going to try and identify some priorities in terms of forest conservation and also reforestation in Fiji.
