Source: carbonpositive.net
5 May 2010 - An alliance of US environmental groups and a workers union have called for trade sanctions to be used to stem the export of illegal timber from Indonesia to protect American jobs and industry. The BlueGreen Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club and United Steelworkers have released a report identifying the economic, social and environmental costs of illegal deforestation in Indonesia on both countries.
“Illegal logging undermines the forest products industry in the United States by distorting global prices of timber, undercutting sustainably manufactured products, and jeopardising the jobs of American workers,” the alliance says.
Deforestation alone catapults Indonesia into the top five of global greenhouse gas emitter nations. Forest loss is responsible for 80 per cent of the country’s emissions, dwarfing the contribution of industrial or energy emissions in the national carbon footprint. The alliance report, Illegal Logging In Indonesia: The Environmental, Economic and Social Costs, quotes latest estimates showing that up to 55 per cent of logging harvests in the country are illegal. A UN report in 2007 put the figures at 73-88 per cent.
A study for the American Forest & Paper Association in 2004 put the cost to the local US industry from depressed wood prices due to illegal logging at $1 billion. The alliance calls for action to curb the trade in illegally-sourced wood to cut high rates of deforestation and benefit communities and workers in both developed and developing countries.
For the complete article, please see carbonpositive.net.
You can also download the report "Illegal Logging In Indonesia: The Environmental, Economic and Social Costs" [PDF 750 KB].
On Tuesday, 4 June, seven foreign ministers, 19 ambassadors, several ministers and more than 200 experts met in Berlin to act on climate security risks at the Berlin Climate and Security Conference. "Achieving the international climate targets is the new imperative of our foreign policy”, the German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, said in his opening speech. This is the aim of the Berlin Call for Action which was presented at the conference.
Governments must invest new effort and money to prevent climate change from driving new conflicts, according to a diplomatic statement drafted by the German foreign office.
A multi-sectoral and multilateral approach to South Asia's rivers could provide sustainable development, but it needs to include those already marginalised by a narrow development path.
Women are vital for effective climate policy making and implementation. In South Asia, more needs to be done on systematically integrating women into policy processes - as active stakeholders and not merely as victims of climate risks.