User:Gmebrie3/New Sandbox

Since our third group member, Brian Healey, has dropped the course, I will be fact checking and proof reading Ethan Huffman’s Wikipedia Entry 2. I will be working in Ethan’s Sandbox to make any necessary edits and/or suggestions to his entry.

Ethan Huffman will be fact checking and peer reviewing my Wikipedia Entry 2. He will be working in my new sandbox, User:Gmebrie3/New Sandbox. I am eager to receive feedback on my article and welcome any suggestions.

I will be editing the article on Deforestation and Climate Change and several of its sections/subsections. When we first approached this topic I was aware of the obvious link between deforestation and climate change. However, once I started to develop the topic and as the class progressed it became even clearer just how tightly the two were tied to each other. This is a clear example of the human/environment connection as well as being tele-coupled with other systems across the globe. The effects of deforestation are felt in all sectors from agriculture to urban development supply chains. With the climate change caused by deforestation there is also a loss of ecosystem good and services which is evident through a lack of products due to over-extraction and in diminished crop yields due to soil degradation as well as loss of biodiversity and habitat. The policies and practices offered in this article are perhaps some of the most effective and efficient ways to curb climate change.

Effect on climate change

Decrease in biodiversity

Further information: loss of biodiversity

Globally there are 18 ‘hot-spots’, each of which contains a unique and biodiverse ecosystem. Together they contain approximately 20% of the earth’s total flora, or roughly 50,000 separate species. The ASEAN Region alone, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand  hosts approximately 20% of all of the world’s species  and accounts for 3 of the Earth’s ‘hot-spots’. While the geographic zone houses one quarter of the world’s forests it has the highest rates of deforestation. This is notable because loss of forest habitats puts biodiversity in jeopardy. Glover, 2008)

Vulnerable Biodiversity Hotspots

A 2007 study conducted by the National Science Foundation found that biodiversity and genetic diversity are codependent—that diversity among species requires diversity within a species, and vice versa. "If any one type is removed from the system, the cycle can break down, and the community becomes dominated by a single species." (Existing text)

Decrease in Climate Services

Human activity such as deforestation for livestock grazing and for fuel wood has led to forest degradation and over extraction resulting in ecosystem biodiversity loss. (Singh, 2005) Loss and degradation of forest has a direct impact on the Earth’s diverse flora and fauna and on Climate Change because they are the best defense against CO2 buildup in the atmosphere, which is a major contributor to Climate Change. One of the main drivers of increased temperatures due to greenhouse gases is CO2 emissions. An increase in foliage may help to slow down the effects of greenhouse gases because CO2 is an important part of photosynthesis. If there is more foliage photosynthesizing more CO2 will be absorbed, there by balancing the potential temperature increases.

When climates change this causes the shift in a species’ geographic range in order to maintain the climactic conditions (temperature, humidity) it is accustomed to. Ecological zones will shift by approximately 160 km per 1 degree Celsius. A reduction in area of any habitat, but particularly in forest habitat along with climatic change enables species invasion and the possibility of biotic homogenization as stronger invasives can take over weaker species in a fragile ecosystem. Humans will also be impacted by loss of biodiversity as food, energy, and other ‘ecosystem goods and services’ patterns are disrupted.

Counteracting climate change

Benefits of reforestation and afforestation (new subsection)

Well-managed forests will have a appropriate natural amount of regeneration to maintain an adequate above ground tree biomass density. This greater the above ground tree biomass density, the greater the amount of Carbon (C) that the forest is able to sequester and storage. A degraded forest therefore is unable to store greater amounts of Carbon (C), thus adding to Climate Change. In order to combat Carbon (C) emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation actions that sequester and store this Carbon must be taken. Deforestation and forest degradation account for nearly 20% of all man-made emissions. The most efficient and cost-effective way to combat this is through sustainable forest management practices, afforestation, reforestation, and forest conservation; take together these practices may provide Carbon (C) emissions reductions of up to 25% which will effectively curb climate change.

Policies, Projects, and Foundations (add “Policies)

The Bali Action Plan (new subsection)

The Bali Action Plan was developed in December of 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. It is a direct result of The Kyoto Protocol of December 1997 One of the key elements of The Bali Action Plan involves a concerted effort by the member countries of The Kyoto Protocol to enact and create policy approaches that incentivize emissions reduction caused by deforestation and forest degradation in the developing world. It emphasized the importance of sustainable forest management and conservation practices in mitigated climate change. This coupled with the increased attention to carbon emission stocks as a way to provide additional resource flows to the developing countries.

The ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability (new subsection)

The “ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability” and the “ASEAN Declaration on the 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCC and the 3rd Session of the CMP to the Kyoto Protocol” were signed by the ASEAN countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The declarations were signed in November of 2007 in Singapore at the ASEAN Summit. Among the environmental initiatives highlighted were forest management, resource conservation, and mitigating climate change. Moreover, this was to proceed with an emphasis on the need to work locally, regionally, nationally, and globally in the sharing and dissemination of environmentally sustainable practices.

Community Based Forest Management (new subsection)

Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) is a scheme that links governmental forest agencies and the local community in efforts to regenerate degraded forests, reforest deforested areas, and decrease carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. This partnership is done with the intent of not only repairing damage to the environment but also to provide economic and social benefits to the affected area. In principle, the benefits for the local community involvement in the management and protection of their forests would be to provide employment and to supplement income from both the wage labor and additional agriculture which would then strength the entire local economy while improving environmental conditions and mitigating climate change. Therefore implementing a CBFM system can provide rural development while mitigating climate change and sustaining biodiversity within the region. It is important to engage the local community members, many of which are indigenous, since presumably they would have deeper knowledge of the local ecosystems as well as the lifecycles of those ecosystems over time. Their involvement also helps to ensure that their cultural practices remain intact.  

Works Cited

Glover, David, and Lee P. Onn. "The Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources in Southeast Asia: Issues and Challenges." ASEAN Economic Bulletin, vol. 25, no. 1, 2008, pp. 1-6. ProQuest, https://proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F219627106%3Faccountid%3D11620, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1355/AE25-1A.

IPCC-WGI, 2007. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Cambridge University press, Cambridge UK.

Rosendal, G.K., 1995. The Forest Issue in Post UNCED International Negotiations, Conflicting Interests and Flora for Recreation. Biodiversity and Conservation 4, 91-107.

Rudel, Thomas K., et al. "Whither the Forest Transition? Climate Change, Policy Responses, and Redistributed Forests in the Twenty-First Century." Ambio, vol. 49, no. 1, 2020, pp. 74-84. ProQuest, https://proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F2169114856%3Faccountid%3D11620, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13280-018-01143-0.

Singh, Preet P. "Exploring Biodiversity and Climate Change Benefits of Community-Based Forest Management." Global Environmental Change, vol. 18, no. 3, 2008, pp. 468-478. ProQuest, https://proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F37129467%3Faccountid%3D11620, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.04.006.

Thuiller, Wilfried. "Biodiversity: Climate Change and the Ecologist." Nature, vol. 448, no. 7153, 2007, pp. 550-2. ProQuest, https://proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F204555089%3Faccountid%3D11620, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/448550a.

UNFCCC, 2001a. UNFCCC Decision 5/CP. 6: Implantations of the Buneons Aries Plan of Action.

UNFCCC, 2001b. ICP/2001/L.11 Draft Decision CP. 6.