Egypt's NBE, EIB sign investment grant deal to support green industry drive    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    EGX plunges on Sunday    Egypt's Al-Sisi, IFC Managing Director discuss boosting private sector investment    Scatec signs power purchase deal for 900 MW wind project in Egypt's Ras Shukeir    Egypt's President stresses need to halt military actions in call with Cypriot counterpart    Egypt's GAH, Spain's Konecta discuss digital health partnership    CBE Deputy Governor attends ceremony appointing DPI as new manager of 'Nclude'    Gold surges 3.7% amid escalating Middle East tensions: Gold Bullion    Environment Minister chairs closing session on Mediterranean Sea protection at UN Ocean Conference    Egypt deploys over 2,400 ambulances to support high school exams nationwide    Egypt nuclear authority: No radiation rise amid regional unrest    Grand Egyptian Museum opening delayed to Q4    Egypt delays Grand Museum opening to Q4 amid regional tensions    Egypt's Foreign Minister condemns Israeli strikes in calls with European, Iraqi counterparts    Trump faces MAGA backlash as Israel-Iran conflict tests non-interventionist promise    Egypt slams Israeli strike on Iran, warns of regional chaos    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's EDA joins high-level Africa-Europe medicines regulatory talks    US Senate clears over $3b in arms sales to Qatar, UAE    Egypt discusses urgent population, development plan with WB    Egypt reaffirms commitment to ocean conservation at UN conference    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Egypt, Serbia explore cultural cooperation in heritage, tourism    Egypt discovers three New Kingdom tombs in Luxor's Dra' Abu El-Naga    Egypt launches "Memory of the City" app to document urban history    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Indonesia's finances, water supplies and apes set to benefit
Published in Bikya Masr on 29 - 09 - 2011

Conserving key forests in Indonesia could generate billions of dollars in revenue, up to three times more than felling them for palm oil plantations, under a United Nations carbon reduction plan that would also secure water supplies and protect critically endangered orangutan apes, according to a report issued on Wednesday.
Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), governments are negotiating a mechanism to provide payments for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and other activities (REDD+), creating incentives for developing countries to cut global warming gasses from forested lands by putting a financial value for the carbon stored in forests.
Overall forest degradation through agricultural expansion, conversion to pastureland, infrastructure development, destructive logging and fires currently account for nearly 18 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire global transport sector and second only to the energy sector.
Many coastal peat-rich forests in Sumatra, where dense populations of the last 6,600 Sumatran orangutans survive, may be worth up to $22,000 a hectare at current carbon prices, compared with less than $7,400 a hectare when cleared for palm oil plantations, according to the report by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) under its Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP), which Indonesia requested.
“Prioritizing investments in sustainable forestry including REDD+ projects can, as this report demonstrates, deliver multiple Green Economy benefits and not just in respect to climate, orangutan conservation and employment in natural resource management,” UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said.
He noted that here had been a reported 50 percent decline in water discharges in as many as 80 percent of rivers due to deforestation in the Aceh and North Sumatra regions, with serious implications for agriculture and food security including rice production and human health.
The report recommends designating new forested areas for REDD+, taking into account the multiple benefits for carbon storage, orangutan habitat conservation and the protection of ecosystem services, while expanding palm oil plantations on land with low current use value and avoiding agricultural and timber concessions where conservation value is high.
The forested peatlands of Sumatra are among the most efficient carbon stores of any terrestrial ecosystem. In the last two decades, 380,000 hectares of Sumatran forests were lost to illegal logging each year, with an annual loss in carbon value estimated at more than $1 billion.
Nearly half of Sumatra's forests disappeared between 1985 and 2007 and in the last decade, close to 80 percent of the deforestation in the peatlands was driven by the expansion of oil palm plantations, while over 20 percent was due to other uses, such as candlenut or coffee production.
Fewer than 6,600 Sumatran orangutans exist in the wild today, down from an estimated 85,000 in 1900, a 92 percent drop. If this rate were to continue, the Sumatran orangutan could become the first of the great apes living today to go extinct in the wild, with local populations in parts of Sumatra disappearing as early as 2015.
BM


Clic here to read the story from its source.