Mark Leighton - Forests: A Pivotal Player From Biodiversity for a Livable Climate conference: "Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming" Saturday November 22nd, 2014

1. Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming
Forests: A Pivotal Player
BLC, 22 Nov 2014
Mark Leighton
Program in Sustainability & Environmental Management
Harvard University Extension
•Carbon Sequestration in
Secondary (Regenerating) Forests
•High Conservation Value (HCV)
assessments as forest
conservation tool to engage
industry and product supply chain

2. Restoration Ecology
(e.g., Nature (2009)
A force to fight global warming
Natural ecosystems and biodiversity must be made a bulwark against climate change,
not a casualty of it, argue Will R. Turner, Michael Oppenheimer and David S. Wilcove.
THE BENEFITS OF BIODIVERSITY
In the tortured history of climate-change
negotiations, enlightened thinking has trans-lated
into positive action all too rarely. But
governments have recently seen the light on a
crucial issue: they have recognized the vital role
that intact natural ecosystems have in limiting
the build-up of atmospheric greenhouse gases.
When delegates convene in Copenhagen
next month to strengthen the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
an initiative to preserve the world’s forests to
store and sequester carbon will take centre
stage. Reducing emissions from deforesta-tion
and forest degradation (REDD) should
give developing countries the opportunity to
benefit financially by preserving their forests,
either through direct payments or by allowing
them to market the carbon stored in uncut
trees. Its backers hope that with sufficient
funding REDD could substantially slow rates of
deforestation, especially in the tropics.
REDD is just one of many possible ways to
exploit the potential of natural ecosystems to
slow climate change and lessen its effects on
people. Natural habitats are a hugely valuable
tool in the fight against global warming. Use
them wisely and they could save many lives and
vast sums of money in the decades to come.
Abuse them, and much of Earth’s biodiversity
could be lost, along with the fight against
climate change. Urgent action is needed to
understand how best to exploit
this promise and develop mech-anisms
that can be woven into
the practices of governments,
corporations, communities and
institutions worldwide.
To achieve such an integrated
approach means fighting a host
of powerful short-term politi-cal
and economic interests. The carbon mar-kets
global biogeochemical cycles. The oceans alone
sequester about 2 gigatonnes of carbon a year.
Reducing deforestation and forest degrada-tion
rates would slash global emissions by up to
1 gigatonne of carbon a year, more than the
emissions of all passenger cars combined.
Restoring the world’s marginal and degraded
lands to natural habitats could sequester an
additional 0.65 gigatonnes annually.
The second reason has to do with practicality:
the maintenance and restoration of natural
habitats are among the cheapest, safest and
easiest solutions at our disposal in the effort
to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and pro-mote
adaptation to unavoidable changes (see
graphic). The basic materials already exist — so
there is no need for technological development.
Indeed, ecosystem restoration (for example,
replanting forest on previously cleared land)
may remain for several decades the only realis-tic
The maintenance and restoration of natural habitats are among the cheapest, safest and easiest solutions that
could aid the e ort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and promote adaptation to unavoidable climate change.
large-scale mechanism for removing carbon
dioxide already in the atmosphere2.
Natural protection
Environmental carbon storage is worth tril-lions
of dollars to the world’s economies, yet
it is only one of nature’s services. Natural eco-systems
will save lives and sustain livelihoods
in myriad ways as Earth’s climate changes3.
For example, healthy mangroves, reefs and
wetlands can protect people and property in
coastal and inland communities
even as climate change threat-ens
to increase tropical cyclone
activity. A cyclone in Orissa,
India, in 1999 would probably
have killed three times as many
coastal residents if mangrove
forests had not buffered their
villages4. Even at current storm
levels, coastal wetlands in the United States
least capacity to cope with climate change.
As important as these services are, what
remains to be discovered may be more valu-able
still. Three decades ago, few imagined that
the carbon stored in natural systems would
become crucial for combating climate change.
Today, enzymes from the gut of a marine crus-tacean
(Limnoria quadripunctata), a type of
gribble, show promise in breaking down agri-cultural
waste products for biofuels, potentially
reducing greenhouse-gas emissions without
competing for agricultural land or threatening
natural habitats6. If a promising biotechnology
can emerge from a common woodlouse-like
creature that lives on the underside of a busy
British pier, what untapped potential — the
‘option value’ of biodiversity — might lie in
the world’s wildernesses? One area where this
untapped innovation could prove particu-larly
valuable is agriculture. When changes in
precipitation and temperature start to test the
physiological limits of current crops, farmers
could benefit from wild relatives and novel
cultivars better suited to the new conditions.
The danger is that we will overlook these
benefits in natural systems or, worse, lose
them. Vast areas of wilderness and undevel-oped
land are already falling to human abuse,
either directly via habitat destruction or indi-rectly
through the effects of climate change.
One-fifth of all vertebrates are now threatened
with extinction7, and habitat destruction is esti-mated
to cost $2 trillion–5 trillion annually in
lost ecosystem services such as the provision of
water and carbon storage, vastly more than the
cost of safeguarding those services.
Halting this decline requires identifying
and securing key intact ecosystems and the
climate services they provide, restoring lost or
degraded ones, and limiting future losses, all
in partnership with the communities that need
“Climate change is
seen as one problem
for nature and
another for people.
This must stop.”
! "#$"%&' ( ")*

3. Tropical rainforest deforestation greatest source forest CO2 emissions…

4. Very uncertain future for world’s forests and net storage vs. emissions

5. Landscape-scale forests are essential for conserving biodiversity and environmental
services, but are poorly represented in the existing network of Protected Areas
Gunung Palung National Park, Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan)
Landscape-scale:
-Large, contiguous
-Ecosystems
-Habitat diversity
-Mitigate climate
change risk
-Entire watersheds
Borneo

6. 100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0-300m 300-500m 500-1000m >1000m
Protected
Conversion
Production
Kalimantan Forest Loss 1999-2008 by
Elevation and Forest Zoning

7. Percentage of 2008 Kalimantan Forest
Cover by Elevation and Forest Zoning
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0-300m 300-500m 500-1000m >1000m
Source: SPOT Veg – SARvision
Protected (HL/HSAW)
Conversion (HPK/APL)
Production (HP/HPT)

8. Selectively-logged
forests:
• Spp-individual
curves similar to
unlogged
• Very few
species become
locally extinct

9. Natural Forest Management
(NRM)
• Selective felling of commercial trees
• Growth of “adolescent” trees in
residual stand for next harvest
• Small gaps from scattered treefalls
• Favors mix of sun- & shade-tolerant
species
• Can be “enrichment planted” while
maintaining ecosystem function

10. Carbon Sequestration in Sabah’s
Lowland Forests under Reduced Impact Logging
(Pinard & Putz, Biotropica 1995)
• Highly selective felling, low proportion trees extracted/ha
• Lowland forest (dryland, below 500m) biomass is about 400 tons/ha,
50% carbon
– 17% biomass below ground (70 tons/ha)
– 83% above ground (330 tons/ha)
• Conventional mechanized logging: residual stand w/44% of pre-logging
biomass (176 tons/ha)
• Sabah’s RIL (reduced impact logging system): 67% of pre-logging
biomass (268 tons/ha)
– Net gain 88 tons/ha
– Reduced fire risk (fire protection incentive because financial
assets)
– Improved habitat for biodiversity conservation
• Longer rotation time means most area of FMU growing in structure

11. Hopes for improved forest management & carbon storage
- Incorporates SFM practices, environmental services & social justice
- Buy certified tropical timber!
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification:

12. New opportunities have emerged to designate and protect landscape-scale
forests by engaging the private sector in identifying and managing
High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF)
1. Timber enterprises pursue forest certification
• High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) delineated and protected
• Production forests under Sustainable Forest Management
2. Plantation industries avoid converting HCVF (use degraded lands)
• Certified paper, palm oil, cocoa encouraged: as per Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
3. Industry pays for protection and management of natural forests
• Carbon & other environmental service financing can help pay for protection
of HCVF
• Provides “rent” to governments and local communities
These require new policy and management instruments

13. HCV Assessments for palm oil, Pulp & Paper & other industries
Industry incentive: reduce criticism & green marketing advantage for
“certified” palm oil
• Many palm oil plantation growers and retailers of palm oil products have
endorsed Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) P & C
– Principle 7.1: no new plantations in HCVF
– Other social justice and environmental criteria
• Monitoring system using RS/GIS
• Create “partnership” with some industry players under the RSPO
• Conservation groups would help support certified product marketing

14. Goal of the HCV Process
Maintain or enhance High Conservation Values
(in a management unit or area)
Consultation
Identify
Manage
Monitor

15. The 6 High Conservation Values
HCV 1 Areas with concentrations of biodiversity
HCV 2 Large intact natural landscapes
HCV 3 Areas with rare or endangered ecosystems
HCV 4 Critical environmental services of nature
HCV 5 Basic needs of local communities
HCV 6 Cultural identity of local communities

16. Sustaining Sumatra’s
peat swamp forests
•6 blocks, > 2 million ha total
•Annual GHG emissions from
deforestation = 1/2 Australia’s total
Link Kerumatan NP to HCVF
areas in concessions
HCV1.2 HCV1.1

17. July 19, 2006
Asia Pulp & Paper’s 2005
concessions in east-central Sumatra
17

18. HCVF assessment of APP
pulp & paper concession at
Pulau Muda (Smartwood)
(cross-hatched are HCVF)
Connection to
Kerumatan large
landscape peat forest
-30,000 ha HCVF

20. Environmental values provided by forests
• Conservation of biodiversity
• Maintenance of hydrological cycle: rainfall, flooding, water quality
• Sustainable production of timber, other products
• Recreation, scientific research, spiritual/cultural
• Carbon storage to offset global climate change
Economic values provided by forest lands
• Timber and various non-timber forest products (NTFPs)
• Tax income: local, national
• Foreign exchange (export commodities)
• Economic Development (infrastructure, govt. services)
• Employment
• Cash Income (local people)
• Political power and “capital”

21. Land claims inside Concession

22. Some relevant points for goal of restoring soil carbon (?)
• Certified product branding can simplify message
• Partner with environmental AND social justice NGOs
• Focus on supply chain buyers, including financing
institutions
• Very complicated stakeholder relationships, more
important than science
• But CAN develop models for promoting, financing and
implementation