Please publish widely as we in Goa are distressed to see the drastic reduction of forest cover these last five years-due to unregulated growth of buildings and poor infrastructure to take in all the real estate boom and muck. Thanks. Anita mathew. Alto Torda, salvador-de Mundo,Bardez taluka.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pamela Gale-Malhotra <saisanctu...@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 6:15 PM Subject: PES Programmes to save forests To: sunbo...@gmail.com Dear all,This is an example of what can be done around the world to save our forests, including here in India. The concept is easy, and the results are often dramatic both in forest protection AND in raising the standard of living for rural people. Please pass this info on to others, especially those who may be in positions of power to implement such programmes. Thanks enough for caring to act! Pamela http://www.care2.com/causes/global-warming/blog/what-may-halt-deforestation-in-central-africa-s-rainforests/ What May Halt Deforestation In Central Africa’s Rainforests Payments for environmental services (PES) may be a key component for stopping deforestation of Central Africa’s tropical rainforests<http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0115-congo_basin.html>, according to a report released Thursday. Titled State of the Forest 2008, the report was released at an event hosted by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The report looked at forests in the six member countries of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership: Gabon, Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. The report<http://www.observatoire-comifac.net/docs/edf2008/EN/SOF_08_Payments%20for%20Environmental%20Services.pdf>defines PES schemes as taking into account the environmental functions of ecosystems and assigning a price to be paid to those who benefit from functions. The rationale behind PES schemes is to “make a direct, contractual, and conditional payment to the owners or users of the sites if they adopt practices to secure the conservation/restoration of the ecosystem and thereby generate environmental services.” There are three types of PES schemes, according to the report: - Schemes based on area—contract is for a particular space in which all or certain uses are prohibited - Schemes based on products—where consumers pay a “green” premium in addition to the market price for a property that has been produced in compliance with environmental standards - Schemes based on use restrictions* *which compensate users for limiting their use of resources, without restriction to a particular area, such as preventing great ape hunting or sea turtle fishing. The Congo Basin is a poverty-stricken area. Two of the countries (the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic) are classified by the World Bank as being among the lowest income countries in the world with gross national income (GNI) per inhabitant of $935. The majority of people living in the Congo Basin<http://www.observatoire-comifac.net/docs/edf2008/EN/SOF_01_regional.pdf>depends on “small-scale slash-and-burn shifting agriculture for subsistence,” and harvest forest products for food and energy, according to the report. Forests in general serve an important function in fighting climate change: sequestering carbon dioxide. Globally, forest destruction creates more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions a year than all the “trains, planes, and cars on the planet,” according to the Rainforest Foundation UK<http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/Rainforests_and_Climate_Change>. Deforestation accounts for 20 percent of all global GHG emissions. Rainforests <http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45586> in particular produce 20 to 30 percent of the world’s oxygen, and contain 80 percent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. -- Pamela Malhotra--Trustee, SAI (Save Animals Initiative) Sanctuary Trust, Theralu Village & Post, South Kodagu District 571249 KA India Tel: +91-(0)8274-238022/238036 Wireless in Sanctuary: 93419-75527 Mobile: 98803-59367 Email: saisanctu...@gmail.com Website: www.saisanctuary.com
