By Bruno Vander Velde
August 22, 2019
The Amazon is on fire: 5 things you need to know
5 min
Here’s what you need to know — and why there is reason for hope.
1. The Amazon is at risk of reaching a devastating ‘tipping point.’
Sound scary? It is. Fortunately, developments elsewhere across the Amazon basin — 40 percent of which lies in other countries outside Brazil — offer reasons for hope.
Sunrise from a canopy tower overlooking the Amazon Forest. New technology could help countries and rural communities fight wildfires before they start.
2. One country is leading the pack
After emerging from decades of unrest, Colombia has made protecting its forests a centerpiece of the country’s future plans.
In just the past few years, Colombia established a carbon tax and a carbon offset market — effectively a tax on polluters paired with a program to enable them to offset their carbon emissions by purchasing credits to keep tropical forests standing.
“Without relying on other institutions or donor countries, Colombia’s carbon tax is already generating funds at the $250 million mark,” said Sebastian Troëng, executive vice president at Conservation International. This is larger than the entire global voluntary carbon market in 2016 and has resulted in more demand for forest conservation than the market can currently supply — while acting as a model for other countries to implement into their economic system.
“Imagine what other countries like Indonesia and South Africa could do,” Troëng said. “This changes the dynamic and allows countries to experiment without waiting for global negotiations or donors.”
Cispata mangrove forest in Colombia.
3. Protected areas are blooming
Bolivia, meanwhile, ecently declared a protected area the size of Connecticut in a sprawling corner of the Amazon. This area protects a range of intact tropical forests, pristine savannas and more than 20 endangered or threatened wildlife species.
While most protected areas are created by national governments, this one was noteworthy because it was established on the municipal level and driven by local communities. Conservation International helped advise the subnational government on the creation of the protected area.
“The Bajo Madidi Protected Area is a key addition to the protected area system in Bolivia,” said Eduardo Forno, country director of Conservation International-Bolivia. “This new area connects 2.9 million hectares of titled indigenous lands with more than 6 million hectares of the most biodiverse protected areas in the world.”
4. Green development is taking root
The smallest countries in the Amazon region are taking the lead in transitioning portions of their economies to ones based on “green” development.
Guyana has one of the largest remaining tracts of intact tropical rainforest, covering some 85 percent of the country. The government is committed to shifting from a mining-based economy to one based on low-carbon development, chiefly through alternative livelihoods to gold mining, which has devastated portions of the country’s forests. Conservation International contributed US$ 3.5 million to a Conservation Trust Fund in Guyana to help ensure these forests remain protected.
Neighboring Suriname is working tirelessly to protect its forests. To help protect the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from illegal logging and mining, Conservation International went straight to the source: communities that live on the park’s outskirts. Under an agreement with the local Matawai indigenous people, a conservation area and buffer zone of 71,000 hectares (177,000 acres) was established adjacent to the reserve. This agreement seeks to conserve the Matawai’s community forest while enabling local residents to generate income from the forest in a way that keeps their forest and traditional livelihoods intact.
Kanuku Mountains in Guyana.
5. It’s OK to feel despair. It’s not OK to give up.
“Pessimists never get anything done,” said Conservation International CEO M. Sanjayan in a wide-ranging interview on C-SPAN. It’s natural to be disheartened by the headlines, he told viewers: “We are all part of the problem, but we can also be part of the solution.”
Further Reading:
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