Reducing emmisions from deforestation and degradation

In the context of climate change, the mitigating effects of forests
(covering around 30% of the world’s land area) are well understood and
acknowledged globally. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and other
studies estimate the release of CO2 from the effects of land use changes on
plants and soil carbon at around one-third of the total global anthropogenic
CO2 emissions (IPCC 2007a). An oft-quoted estimated figure of emissions
from deforestation globally in the 1990s is 5.8 GtCO2/yr.
Given that forest can be both a source as well as a sink, the world should
strive to reduce emissions by sources and/or increase removals by sink in the
forestry sector. REDD aims at reducing emissions arising as a result of
deforestation as well as degradation. A/R aims at increasing the removal of
CO2 (sequestration) from the atmosphere by way of afforestation and
reforestation. And of course, the general idea of sustainable forest
management, or SFM, is to manage the available forests to meet the societal
needs in the long run. Taken together, the combined efforts could optimize
climate change concerns, ecological concerns, conservation concerns,
livelihood concerns, and societal needs for timber, fiber, and bio energy.
Both the Stern Review and the IPCC Working Group on Climate Change
Mitigation concluded that mitigation efforts targeted to reduce deforestation
rates and degradation present the greatest benefit because of the size of the
source as well as the cost-effectiveness (Stern 2007; IPCC 2007b). Also, the
Bali Action Plan decided upon during the UNFCCC (United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change) Conference of Parties at its
thirteenth session states that enhanced national/international on mitigation
of climate change should include, among others, consideration of Policy
approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of
conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon forest stocks in developing countries (UNFCCC 2007).
The net emissions from the forestry activities combined should be
calculated at the national scale and should be based on the historical
baseline.
In the international climate forums, discussions on REDD have focused
primarily on the methodology for estimating and monitoring emissions
from deforestation and degradation. While it is agreed that reliable,
accurate, and cost-effective measurement of tropical deforestation is
possible with satellite remote sensing and is being used extensively in many
developed countries, these technological and methodological capabilities
for monitoring deforestation can be transferred to developing countries to
reduce the cost of monitoring deforestation. Among the developing
countries, India is considered a pioneer in forest cover monitoring. Forest
cover is assessed on a biennial cycle, which is based on digital
interpretation of satellite imagery and intensive ground truthing and
accuracy assessment. India could also help build capacities of other
developing countries in monitoring their forest cover (and thus
deforestation and afforestation/reforestation) in a framework of South–
South cooperation, with financial support from developed countries.
Monitoring degradation requires use of high-resolution satellite imagery;
increasing the cost of monitoring. On the other hand, it could be carried
out with more extensive ground truthing, which can be comparatively less
expensive and also could provide employment to local forest-dependent
people, who can be trained to participate in field surveys and forest
inventories (along with the forest department). Engaging forest-dependent
communities for monitoring activities would have the added benefit of
mobilizing their support for forest protection.
Given the technology and methodological capacities, each country should
be able to develop a national forest inventory that accounts for
deforestation, degradation, afforestation/reforestation. The host country
could be provided a positive incentive, in the form of annual payments, to
compensate for maintaining the forest cover and for increasing the flow of
carbon sequestration.
Understanding that there are varying national circumstances, the
UNFCCC could create different financial instruments for the range of
different actions that a would-be host country can implement. Some of the
suggested funds are Reducing Deforestation Fund, Stabilization Fund, and
Forest Conservation Fund. These should reflect the value of natural, old
growth forest stands as well as new afforested (plantations) areas. Also, a
fund to address the challenges of would-be host countries could also be
developed by the UNFCCC to help host countries build capacities and
implement these projects.
Around the world, it is being increasingly felt that forests have to be
managed in partnership with the forest-dependent communities (and other
stakeholders) as opposed to having a centralized administrative structure
(such as the forest department). Associated policy issues of forest rights and
land tenure are also being (not always successfully) addressed.
Operationalizing any REDD mechanism would definitely have to take the
current ongoing policy debates into consideration. Communities that
traditionally have been the stewards and users of the forests have to be
involved in developing any REDD scheme to get their buy-in. And the
REDD schemes have to ensure that the monetary benefits (of carbon credits) reach those who have been the custodians of the forests. The
implementation of any schemes would depend heavily on the institutional
and governance structure in the countries that would participate in the
schemes.
The world requires a multi-pronged approach to address climate change
concerns. Addressing forestry issues (REDD, A/R, SFM) would help us to
approach a desirable level of carbon concentration at a quicker pace. One
should also take into cognizance the fact that forests are susceptible to
climate change and could lose their ability to adapt to climate change at
some high level of carbon concentration in the atmosphere, resulting in
reduction in their mitigation potential.
It is globally agreed that there are multiple, complex underlying causes
of deforestation and degradation. These vary from local pressures to
agricultural demands to international trade aspects. It should be noted that
while stopping deforestation and degradation is easier said than done, the
achievement of sustainable development depends on how these forestry and
related institutional and governance issues are addressed holistically.
Another facet of our long-standing concern, in general, is the demand on
the natural resources for and as a result of development. With time,
development has evolved to include sustainability, which, in turn, is
presently evolving towards inclusion of low-carbon/carbon-neutrality. While
the discussions would rage on for sometime before consensus is reached,
many of these issues would become slightly easier to address if the demands
(as a result of both population growth as well as increasingly carbon intensive
lifestyles) are moderated.
For more details go to website: www.teriin.org

Delhi an e-waste dumping yard?

Delhi, which is already reeling under high pollution, has now to deal with another environmental challenge - e-wastes. According to an industry lobby's estimate, over 2,000 trucks dump around 12,000 tonnes of e-waste in the city per day.

"Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka generate over 25,000 tonnes of e-waste per day through various industrial activities and dump around 50 percent of it at different places in Delhi, particularly at Turkeman Gate, Shastri Park, Loni, Seelampur and Mandavali," Sajjan Jindal, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), said here Monday.

"The e-waste sent to Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore mostly makes its way to Delhi as there is a ready market for glass and plastic in the NCR (National Capital Region). In fact, wastes from Mumbai constitute a bulk of the 60-70 tonnes of discarded electronics that land in Delhi's scrap yards everyday," he said in a statement.

Estimates also reveal that Delhi alone gets 25 percent of the total e-waste generated in the developed world, which comes through cheaper imports. Nearly 30,000 people are working in the city's various scrap yards and unauthorised recycling units.

As a result of continuous inflow of e-waste, the Delhi government has found it difficult to plant and grow saplings in the waste land, the industry forum said.

According to the Assocham, each state should develop its own scrap yards in the respective cities so that the environmental hazards would be minimised in Delhi.

It added that Delhi and the NCR have over 40,000 industrial and medical units, which are responsible for generating electronics and bio-medical waste.

The chamber has sent a proposal to the Delhi government, urging it to impose a ban on e-waste dumping in and around the NCR.

The Assocham has also suggested that the Delhi government plant more than 2 million saplings annually near the industrial centres to minimise the environmental hazards arising out of e-wastes.

The chamber has urged the government to bring out effective legislation to prevent child labour in the recycling sector.

Over 6,000 children, of the 10-15 age group, are engaged in various e-waste activities, without adequate protection and safeguards in Delhi's various yards and recycling workshops, it said.

Besides global warming, e-waste is the most threatening environmental problem in the world today. In India, the total e-waste generation is approximately 380,000 tonnes annually. And in the world, it is more than 20 million tonnes per year.

Sixty-five cities in India generate more than 60 percent of the total e-waste generated in the country while 10 states generate 70 percent of the total e-waste.
for more information follow the link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Alarming Facts

There are more than 3 million poisonings every year. Household cleaners are the number one cause of poisoning of children. The EPA
has reported that nearly 30 cancer-causing chemicals were detectable in the fat tissues of literally every American today.

1. Just reducing (not eliminating) environmental carcinogens alone would save at least 50,000 lives from cancer annually. (Dr. Lee Davis, former advisor to the Secretary of Health)
2. Over 150 chemicals commonly found in homes have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities. (Consumer Product Safety Commission) The average American home contains more than 1,000 different chemicals. (EPA)
3. Toxic chemicals in household cleaners are three times more likely to cause cancer than air pollution. (EPA)
4. Most homes have airborne concentrations of hazardous chemicals that are three to 70 times higher indoors than outdoors. (EPA)
5. Women who work at home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than women who work outside of the home. The higher death rate is believed to be due to daily exposure to chemicals found in ordinary household products. (Toronto Indoor Air Commission)
6. In the past 14 years, there has been a 75% increase in asthma; 29% for men; 71% for women. The higher rate for women is believed to be due to women’s longer exposure times to household chemicals. (Center for Disease Control) Of the approximately 87,000 chemicals now in common use, only 1,350 have been tested for carcinogenicity or other health effects. That’s less than 2% of the total. (Household Toxins Institute) Researchers are finding that some chemicals can cause damage to a child’s developing brain, while others may cause cancer or mimic or block hormones. Children are more vulnerable to chemicals that adults can tolerate. Their bodies are simply not ready to process and remove toxins. Kids receive proportionately larger doses of environmental toxins than adults. (Children’s Health Environmental Coalition)
   
7. There are basically three ways toxic chemicals can enter your body: by swallowing (ingestion), by breathing (inhalation), or by contact with your skin or eyes (absorption).
8. The personal care products we put on our skin and hair create possible toxic exposures through skin absorption. These include soaps, lotions, cosmetics, shampoos, deodorants and other common products. Of 2,983 chemicals used in personal care products 884 were found to be toxic, 778 can cause acute toxicity, 146 can cause tumors, 218 can cause reproductive complications and 376 can cause skin and eye irritations. (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) 90% of health problems caused by chemicals are through the inhalation of chemical vapors and absorption of chemical particles. However, many warning labels refer only to toxic hazards caused by ingestion of a chemical.
9. Asthma, allergies, cancer and a range of maladies from skin irritations to fatigue and behavior problems can be directly linked to chemicals in households. (Dr. Phillip Landrigan, Director of Mt. Sinai’s Center for Children’s Health and the Environment)(www.childenvironment.org) Toxic chemicals in homes are three times more likely to cause cancer than any outdoor airborne pollutants. (EPA)
10. There has been a 26% increase in breast cancer since 1982. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women aged 34 to 55, killing more than 40,000 women across the country every year. “I believe it is high time to seriously consider environmental chemicals as the most likely cause of this sudden increase in risk.” says Dr. Ana Soto, breast cancer specialist at Tufts Medical School.
11. More than 2,600 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day – that is an average of one death every 33 seconds. (American Heart Association, 2003)
12. By 2020, nearly half of all people over age 50 will be affected by arthritis. More than 60 million will suffer from osteoporosis. (Center for Disease Control)
13. The average obese person will die 13 years earlier than a person of normal weight. Sixty-two percent of Americans are overweight – 34% of them are clinically obese. (New England Medical Journal of Medicine, 2003)
14. Ninety percent of all men will have some form of prostate cancer by age 85. (Journal of Urology)
15. Household toxins don’t just affect us, they create toxic waste in their manufacture and use which gets disposed of in the environment in the form of air and water pollution and solid toxic waste. Not only does this pollution come back to haunt our own health, but it also harms wildlife.
16. The California Department of Fish and Game tested the toxicity of common chemicals they found in their waterways. The most toxic substances to aquatic organisms were household bleach, all-purpose cleaner, laundry detergent and dish detergent. These were more harmful to aquatic life than other products we think of as being more toxic, such as paint or car wax.
17. The leading dishwasher detergent contains 3.39 grams of phosphates per tablespoon. If every North American household washed just one load of dishes each day, more than 4,800 tons of phosphates would be needlessly dumped into our waterways, threatening the natural balance of fish and algae life. Just one ingredient – chlorine – is basic to more than 10,000 of all new synthetic chemicals, and it also figures in some of the world’s most difficult environmental problems: ozone layer depletion, losses of wildlife, reduction in human intelligence and fertility, contamination of ground water, and so on. (www.stopcancer.org) The disposal of toxic synthetic chemical products down household drains and into public sewer systems is posing an extreme challenge to the wastewater treatment industry. (Household Toxins Institute)
    

For more information visit link:www.chooseagreatlife.net

Dogs in China

South Korea is not the only place in Asia where dogs are routinely slaughtered. These photos were taken in Xichang Province in China where dogs are daily taken from breeding farms and have their throats cut and are bled to death in the manner seen below whilst other dogs look on.


A young dog looks on awaiting his turn

The dog's blood is drained from the throat whilst it is still conscious



Dogs and cats and the Global Fur Trade
A recent investigation has uncovered the trail used by people involved in the use of dogs and cats for the global fur market. Hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats in the Phillipines and Thailand are captured daily by roving trucks and then taken away to be hung while their fellow animals look on. They are hung through the top of the cage so as to not leave any marks on the fur or skin which are then shipped to places such as Japan for manufacture of drums and these are forwarded to the rest of Asia, Europe and the US.

If we do not address this issue one day will come when our children will watch dogs in the animation movies and pictures only. Each species is equally important to maintain ecological balance.
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/holywood/