State of the Rainforest 2014

A Centre Collabrorating with UNEP

RAINFOREST FOUNDATION NORWAY

A Centre Collaborating with UNEP

State of the rainforest

2014

Contents

State of the rainforest 2014

3 4 6

Preface Findings and main messages Recommendations

Editor: Ellen Hofsvang Cartographer: Riccardo Pravettoni Layout: GRID-Arendal

Part 1 Importance of the rainforest and biodiversity Why forests are critical for development Rainforest biodiversity – treasure under threat

Contributors text: Frances Seymour, Miriam van Heist, Tasso Azevedo, David Hill, Kamilla Berggrav, Riccardo Pravettoni, Marine Gauthier, Siri Gilbert, Maria Guzmán-Gallegos, Bård Lahn, Christian Nellemann, Hanne Jørstad, Johan Knagenhjelm, Vemund Olsen, Lars Løvold, Nils Hermann Ranum, Ellen Hofsvang. Thanks to: Erik Steineger, Svein Erik Stave, Jan Thomas Odegard, Axel Borchgrevink, Lorelou Desjardins, Hanne Brown, Solveig Firing Lunde, Victorine Che Thöner, for review and ideas. Thanks to: Warsi and YMP (Indonesia), CPI (Brazil), ORAU (Peru), Africapacity (DRC) and partner organisations in DRC and PNG for contribution to the report and facilitation of field visits. Photo credits: Bo Mathisen (cover, 9, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 35, 42), Johan Wildhagen (9, 15, 39, 52) Thomas Marent (7, 10, 12) Lars Løvold (18, 45) Jørgen Braastad (23, 75) Arild Hagen (13, 16, 93) Ellen Hofsvang (15, 19, 59–64, 67) David Hill (p 48–49) Riccardo Pravettoni (55, 56) Siri Gilbert (65) Douglas Sheil (66) Johan Knagenhjelm (68–70) Geir Erichsrud (71). Others: RFN and GRID-Arendal.

7 8

10 14 16 18 20

What do we get from the rainforest? The rainforest and climate change People in the rainforests Food in the forest

Part 2 Deforestation: Time for policy change State of the world’s rainforest Brazil: Forest hero, but still a deforestation champion Is REDD+ saving the rainforest? Part 3 People who protect forests The Amazon Brazil: Indigenous peoples plan their own future Peru: Watching the gates to isolated tribes Central Africa’s rainforest DR Congo: Forced to leave their land Southeast Asia and Oceania Indonesia: A view from the forest Local perspectives in rainforest research Papua New Guinea: Told the loggers to leave

23 24 32 36

39 40 44 46 50 54 58 62 66 68 71 72 78 82 86 89 92

© Rainforest Foundation Norway and GRID-Arendal. September, 2014

The report is produced with funding from Norad – The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Part 4 Drivers of deforestation

Why are tropical forests disappearing? The path to no-deforestation investments Forest crime

Notes Bibliography Tables

Preface

For the peoples who have lived in and of the rainforests for hundreds or thousands of years the destruction of the rainforest is already a matter of life or death. This publication is dedicated to them. Rainforest peoples speak close to half of all the languages in the world. They have knowledge both of the mysteries and the everyday necessities in the forests – a knowledge that is lost at an alarming rate. And they are the true guardians of the rainforests. Empirical studies show that where the indigenous peoples have control of their land, the forest will be better protected and sustainably used. This is the third time that the Rainforest Foundation Norway has published a “The State of the Rainforest” report. This year’s edition has been a joint undertaking between Rainforest Foundation Norway and GRID-Arendal. The report has only been possible through contributions from local communities and civil society organizations in rainforest countries. The stories of how communities actively protect their forests underscore that solutions for the global problem of tropical deforestation must build on local experiences. The report aims to give an overview of existing knowledge, presented in an accessible way – and to ensure that we see the whole forest, not only the trees. We hope the report will be useful for all people engaged in the protection of rainforest, whether you are scientist, journalist, activist, decision maker or a concerned citizen.

Humankind can celebrate impressive progress in the last generation: People live longer, fewer children die, more people learn to write and read, and the percentage of people in extreme poverty has decreased substantially. There are, however, two major areas where we have no reason to applaud: The escalating degradation of ecosystems, including loss of irreplaceable animal and plant species, and the escalating emissions of greenhouse gases. The tropical rainforest is a thermometer of the state of the planet. More than half of the terrestrial plant and animal species live there. It is “the main biological library of the earth”. Most of the information in this library is not even known to science. The forests also contain and store enormous amounts of carbon. The yearly destruction of the tropical forests results in emissions of CO 2 equal to the emissions from all cars in the world. The library burns. This is why the state of the rainforest concerns the whole world. Norwegians and people in other non-tropical countries may choose to live as if this did not concern them – but only for a while. As expressed by King Harald of Norway “If the rainforests disappear, they will not come back. Then the world will be an altered place to live”.

Peter T. Harris Managing Director GRID-Arendal

Dag Hareide Executive Director Rainforest Foundation Norway

Findings and main messages

Reducing deforestation is urgent. Destruction of the rainforest and other tropical forests continue on a dramaticscale inspiteof unprecedentedglobal attention to the issue of deforestation and the role of forests in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The global figures for deforestation are contested: Two main sources of data, the FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment (2010) and a remote sensing study by University of Maryland (2013), use different technologies and definitions of forest and display huge variation between figures (see section 2). We simply don’t know how much rainforest is left on Earth, and how fast it disappears. Both sources agree, however, that tropical forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. According to the FAO, 130 000 km 2 of the world’s forests are lost every year, the majority in the tropics. Simultaneously, the University of Maryland calculates the annual loss of tropical forest to be 92 000 km 2 . According to the latter, 1.1 million km 2 (three times the size of Norway) have been lost from 2000 to 2012. Dense tropical rainforests once covered around 18 million km 2 of Earth, but is now reduced to half of this size. Most of this forest was lost during the last 50–60 years, and rapid deforestation continues. Except for Brazil, which has reduced deforestation at a globally significant scale, other countries have not managed to show similar positive results on the ground – in the forest – in spite of political commitments. Extensive degradation of tropical forests around the globe aggravates the problem. Intact, primary rainforests are through various forms of destructive activity transformed into secondary forests, which undermines the forests’ health and ability to deliver ecosystem services – even if the forest cover may remain. There is a serious lack of political attention to this phenomenon, and data on the extent of forest degradation are even more scattered and unreliable than those on tropical deforestation. Tropical rainforests are crucial for reaching international development goals. The forest’s ecosystem services and resources are essential for poverty alleviation, long-term food security and for solving the global environmental crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. We have known for a long time that tropical rainforests are extremely valuable, not least as habitat for half of the world’s terrestrial species, but new and ongoing research continues to widen our understanding of the extent and importance of tropical forests for local and global development. The role of tropical forests for climate regulation, rainfall patterns and availability of freshwater, the connection between forest biodiversity, food security and

agricultural production, and their importance for the livelihood and cultural survival of indigenous peoples and other local communities all underscore that protection and sustainable use of the world’s tropical rainforests need to be given much higher priority within international and national development strategies. Low deforestation development is possible … The fact that deforestation trends are not uniform gives room for some optimism. There are variations across regions which clearly show that deforestation is not a necessary consequence of economic development. It is a question of political will and choice of economic strategy. The very encouraging development in Brazil, where Amazon deforestation has been reduced by three quarters – to 26 percent of the annual average between 1996 and 2005 – is the direct result of political decisions and demonstrates that forest protection is compatible with national economic growth and social development. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), deforestation rates have been relatively stable. This is in itself positive, as most observers feared a steep increase after the end of the second Congo war in 2003. Even in Indonesia, where more rainforest is being lost than in any other country, political attention and incipient policy change represent significant steps forward. At the international level, we see governments discussing measures and private sector corporations adopting no-deforestation policies to an extent that would have been considered totally unrealistic a few years back. … but the necessary changes are complex. The direct and indirect causes behind the destruction of the rainforest are many and varied. Small-scale agriculture contributes towards deforestation on all rainforest continents, emerging as an important factor especially where deforestation rates are relatively low. The massive deforestation that has ravaged the Amazon and Southeast Asia over the last five decades is caused by large-scale actors, and illegality and crime play an important part. Some 80% of all deforestation in South America from 1990 to 2000 was caused by cattle ranching and industrial scale agriculture. Explosive growth in plantations, increasing exploitation of forest areas for mining, infrastructure development, as well as both legal and widespread illegal logging is taking place in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Indonesia, and other countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Driving the development is a complex web of illegal and legal activities, legitimate political decisions intertwined with pervasive corruption and illegal resource extraction and trade.

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forests of indigenous peoples should no longer be classified as state forest, paving the way for a rights-based, sustainable rainforest management. Strengthening forest communities’ rights to their lands, and developing forest management policies in close cooperation with the forests’ inhabitants, should be given urgent priority in rainforest countries. This report tells five stories from five different rainforest countries, showing the important roles forest people can play in forest management. Extensive rainforest destruction in the making. The threats against the world’s remaining rainforests are immense. Rainforest countries, which on the one hand have stated their political intention to reduce deforestation, on the other continue to develop plans for major infrastructure development and the expansion of plantations and extractive industries, all of which will increase deforestation. A few examples from major rainforest countries illustrate this too well: Almost 75% of Peru’s Amazon is covered by planned or operative oil-and-gas concessions. Indonesia intends to double the area for oil palm, and neighbouring Papua New-Guinea faces a comparable threat. Most of PNG’s commercially accessible rainforests have been allocated for logging, and special licences to convert thousands of km 2 of forests to oil palm plantations are causing controversy in the country. In DR Congo, the moratorium on logging concessions has for many years been under pressure, and expected expansion of roads, mining, plantations and agriculture will lead to a steep increase in deforestation rates. Even in Brazil, laws protecting the rainforest and indigenous territories are under pressure. On top of the expected continued expansion of industrial scale agriculture, the sum total of planned infrastructure and extractive activities in Amazon countries are so extensive that they may impact half of the remaining Amazon rainforest (se section 3). Unless governments and the key players responsible for forest destruction address and reverse these plans, the future of the world’s remaining rainforests is grim.

Organized crime plays an increasing role in deforestation and illegal logging in all rainforest regions. This includes the illicit trade in endangered high-value species like rosewood, logging for timber, advanced laundering through plantation front companies targeting pulp and paper production in Asia, and control of the distribution of the rapidly rising charcoal trade, especially in Africa. The global value of forest crime, mainly commercialization of illegally logged timber, is estimated by UNEP and INTERPOL to be between USD 30 and 100 billion annually. By comparison, the global value of all official development assistance was reported by OECD to reach USD 134.8 billion in 2013.With the dramatic rise in organized forest crime, enforcement capacity will become essential to any success. Few measures have been taken to address the role of companies or investment funds involved in tropical deforestation, whether they are domestic or trans-national actors. Within some sectors, including those representing major drivers of deforestation, the industry itself, responding to mounting pressure from civil society actors, consumers and public opinion, have adopted internal policies meant to exclude deforestation and human rights violations from their commodity chains. Such initiatives represent important contributions towards reduced deforestation. Voluntary actions should, however, be followed by the development of public policies and internationally agreed rules to regulate actors who continue to cause deforestation and degradation of the world’s few remaining rainforests. Companies and investors genuinely interested in adhering to a no-deforestation policy can play an important part in combating forest crime and illegal trade in natural resources. Lack of tenure rights contributes to deforestation in many rainforest regions and adds to the complexity. In Indonesia, for instance, millions of people, including 50-70 million indigenous peoples, depend on the forest. Yet, the state has claimed authority over most of the forest, granting licenses for forest exploitation to industrial companies at the expense of local communities who have for generations maintained the forest ecosystems. Last year, an historic decision by the country’s constitutional court stated that customary

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Recommendations – urgent actions required to reduce tropical deforestation

National governments, both within their respective countries and collectively as the international community, should:

Ensure that forest peoples’ collective rights to land and natural resources are included in international and national development plans, and respected in practice; Consult and cooperate in good faith with indigenous peoples in order to obtain their Free, Prior and Informed Consent in all matters that affect them and their traditional lands and resources; Work with forest communities and indigenous peoples in order to meet their development aspirations and create sustainable income opportunities compatible with the maintenance of forest and their culture and traditions; Improve global forest monitoring systems so that they effectively distinguish between various forest types and plantations and provide reliable information on forest cover and loss, including degradation and fragmentation, globally and at country and regional levels; Ensure that definitions of forests adopted by international institutions and countries distinguish between different forest types and natural forests and plantations, to avoid misleading reporting of forest cover and forest loss.

a.

Make forest protection an integral part of UN’s new sustainable development goals, given the importance of forests for local and global sustainable development;

g.

b.

Provide significant rewards to rainforest countries for protection of natural forests and ecosystems;

h.

c.

Review plans for large-scale expansion of infrastructure, extractive industries and other economic activities in rainforest regions to ensure they do not threaten forest ecosystems and/or undermine the rights of forest communities and indigenous peoples; Combat forest crime through new regulations and increased law enforcement efforts targeting the full enforcement chain from customs control, investigation of money laundering and tax fraud to prosecution and increased international collaboration; Effectively regulate industries involved in rainforest destruction, and support private sector actors that develop and implement no-deforestation policies;

i.

d.

j.

e.

k.

f.

Establish policies and regulations to avoid investments in companies and industries causing forest destruction;

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

Importance of the rainforest and biodiversity State of the rainforest 2014 • part 1

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

Why forests are critical for development By Frances Seymor Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, Washington, DC; Director General of CIFOR, the Center for International Forestry Research 2006–2012

Forests are more than a solution to climate change The science is clear about two things. First, climate change poses a significant threat to human well-being, with developing societies and poor households most vulnerable to harm. The effects of extreme weather events, rising sea levels, food insecurity, water scarcity, and displacement will be felt disproportionately by poor communities who tend to lack essential infrastructure, rely more on natural resources for food and income, and with fewer assets, have a harder time coping with shocks. 1 Second, protecting the world’s remaining tropical forests is an essential component of any strategy to stabilize the climate. Deforestation accounts for 11% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, and the mitigation potential of forests is even greater due to the potential to reduce forest loss as well as to increase the carbon sequestered by forest regrowth. 2 Emerging evidence increasingly supports two additional propositions. Forests make essential – and often invisible – contributions to development above and beyond their role in mitigating the emissions that cause climate change. Further, measures to protect forests can be aligned to advance rights, livelihoods, and governance objectives, multiplying the positive impacts of action, including action by and for affected communities.

Forests contribute to rural livelihoods and broader development goals Development planners often assume that commercial exploitation or conversion of forests to other uses are the best ways to boost national economic growth and rural incomes. But forests already make significant contributions to rural livelihoods and broader human well-being in ways not yet captured in national statistics. As a result, the losses of forest goods and services are seldom weighed against the potential benefits of intensive logging, mining, or conversion of forest lands to plantation agriculture. Yet the value of intact forests for the food security, energy security, health, and safety of societies throughout the tropics is becoming increasingly evident. Food security is a top priority on development agendas, but the role that forests play – both directly via livelihood contributions and indirectly through ecosystem services that benefit agriculture – is often overlooked. A study published in 2014 revealed that households in and around tropical forests derive on average 21% of their income from the harvest of wild forest products. A third of this is in the form of forest foods such as wild fruits and bushmeat, which are often important for nutrition. 3

Clearing forests for food crops could actually undermine food security by destroying the ecological infrastructure that supports

Small rainforest in a big world

How much rainforest in the world? Million square kilometres

Land Water 361 Land 149

9

Rainforest

Total Earth surface

Source: Based on data from the MODIS Land Cover Group, Boston University

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

Protecting forests can be aligned with rights, livelihoods, and governance objectives The contributions of forests to development described above are of greatest value to the most proximate communities 11 who thus have the most to lose from forest destruction or appropriation of forest wealth by others. People in and around forests are thus essential partners in the struggle to protect forests for climate and development benefits. Recognizing the rights of local forest stewards is a first step. State conservation efforts, sometimes legitimized by international support, have often come at the expense of local communities. 12 Indigenous communities empowered to exercise customary rights over forest resources are increasingly recognized as effective forest stewards. In the Xingu Indigenous Park in Brazil’s Mato Grosso, local enforcement efforts have secured the borders of indigenous lands, despite pressure from ranchers, loggers, miners and other outside actors vying for control. 13 Increased transparency and accountability are tools to fight deforestation as well as to improve governance more generally. While some deforestation results from intentional government policies, a significant proportion is due to illegal logging, encroachment into formally protected areas, and licensing of forest exploitation and conversion through corrupt practices. 14 Elites are thus enabled to effectivelyprivatizepublicassets,imposecostsondownstreamandlocal communities, and undermine respect for the rule of law. Civil society’s response to Indonesia’s forest fires in 2013 demonstrated the power of on-the-ground monitoring coupled with remote sensing technologies to detect illegal removal of forest cover, effectively pressuring government officials and corporate leaders to improve forest management. 15 Forest protection efforts, designed appropriately, can thus be a triple win, safeguarding the rights and livelihoods of local communities while generating climate and development benefits for society at large.

agricultural productivity. Forests regulate water quality and availability by reducing runoff, filtering, and facilitating water recycling. 4 New science suggests that forests play a much greater role in driving the water cycle at broader scales than previously thought, carrying moisture from oceans into continental interiors and essentially driving rainfall patterns. 5 Energy security is also provided by forests. For communities without access to modern energy sources, forests provide fuelwood and charcoal. Forested watersheds supply water to reservoirs behind hydroelectric dams as well as to irrigation systems, and protect against erosion and sedimentation that shortens the useful life of such infrastructure. A recent study calculated that cloud forests, though covering only a relatively small area (4.4%) of relevant watersheds, supply 21% of the surface water to the reservoirs above dams in the tropics. 6 Human health is supported by healthy forests beyond providing nutrition and clean water. For the majority of people in developing countries who rely largely on traditional medicine, access to forest plants and animals with medicinal properties is critical to well-being. 7 And as deforestation is commonly achieved through intentional burning, and degraded forests are more vulnerable to wildfires, a significant benefit of maintaining intact forests is the avoided damage to respiratory health caused by smoke and haze. 8 Human safety is also served by intact forests, which increase resilience to other extreme events in addition to forest fires. Complex root systems increase water infiltration and prevent erosion, helping to reduce both landslides and flooding. For coastal communities, mangrove forests intercept wave energy, providing some protection against storms and tsunamis. 9 Further, many of the goods and services provided by forests are important for climate adaptation, by enhancing resilience to the extreme weather events that are expected to increase in frequency and severity with climate instability. 10

The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Sara del Fierro in the preparation of this essay.

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The biodiversity of the tropical rainforests is amazing. More than half of the 1.4 million species currently identified in the world are living in these ecosystems. And still, scientists are sure that the total number of different plants and animals is far more, probably 5–10 million. Every year, botanists describe and classify about 2,000 new plant species. More than 1,000 species of orchids have so far been collected in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo. But even in Borneo, where the rainforests are relatively well-studied, just Rainforest biodiversity – treasure under threat “ Modern rainforests pose riddle upon riddle: where do all these species come from, and how did they end up here? 16

somewhere between 15%and 35%of the existing species have been described by scientists. 17 different palm species were registered in Brunei in 1988 – only seven years later, the figure had risen to 140. As the most diverse ecosystem on earth, the tropical rainforest is brimming with unknown mysteries. Since 2010, 441 new animal and plant species have been discovered in the Amazon, 17 among them a growling monkey and an endangered poison dart frog in the rainforests of Guyana. In New Guinea, researchers are constantly discovering new species; more than 1000 in recent years. This includes over 100 orchids, 134 amphibians, 71 different fish (including a 2 meter long river shark) and 12 mammals.

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huge variety of plants and animals. The many theories are not mutually exclusive. 19 Probably, all these factors have been involved in shaping the rich diversity of the world’s rainforests as we know them today. Human beings have also played a part in the interaction. In the Amazon there are traces of hunter-gatherer societies dating some 9000 years back, and of agricultural societies existing 4500 years ago. Human life has also been documented in the rainforests of Africa and Asia 20 dating several thousand years back in time. While species extinction thousands of years ago has been linked to human activity in some places, human activity is not necessarily synonymous with destruction. There are also signs that people, in the interaction with their environment, have actually strengthened species diversity. Wemay need to re-adjust our notions of rainforests as primeval, virgin tracts untouched by humans. Disappearing diversity The last time the golden toad ( Incilius periglenes ) was seen, was in a nature reserve in Costa Rica in 1989. The species of our planet

The two countries with the greatest diversity of mammals are among the world’s largest rainforest countries, Indonesia (670 species) and Brazil (648 species). According to an analysis by the IUCN Red List, 18 Indonesia is also the country with the highest number of threatened mammals in the world. The fact that new species are still being discovered is a clear indication of the vast and unmapped biodiversity in the world’s rainforests. Why are there so many species? In general, the diversity of plants and animals increases dramatically from the polar regions to the tropics. But we do not yet know why rainforests are so exceptionally rich in biodiversity. Is it due to inter- species struggle for specialization? Or is it a matter of the gradual accumulation of species under relatively stable tropical forest conditions over millions of years? Other theories hold that species evolve more rapidly in warm climates; that variations in micro-climate and periods where pockets of rainforest have been isolated in a drier or colder climate have fostered diversity; or that the geological changes that elevated lowlands to mountains (like the Andes) have stimulated the

Biodiversity is concentrated in the rainforest

Russian Federation

United States

China

Mexico

Philippines

Vietnam

India

Venezuela

Costa Rica

Thailand

Malaysia

Colombia

Papua New Guinea

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ecuador

Indonesia

Brazil

Tanzania

Peru

Bolivia

Madagascar

Australia

Total number of amphibian, bird, mammal, reptile, and vascular plant species

South Africa

Argentina

60 000 25 000 10 000

NB: Only values above 10 000 are shown

Rainforest country

Source: Mongabay.com

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update, 25 over 90% of Madagascar’s lemurs are threatened with extinction. The Brazilian 26 – the mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup – is in the category ‘Vulnerable’ as its population continues to decline. Among the rainforest countries in Africa, Madagascar clearly stands out as having the highest number (873) of threatened species – both ‘critically endangered’, ‘endangered’ and ‘vulnerable’ plants and animals are included in this figure. Cameroon has as many as 636 species on this Red List, 27 whilst its giant rainforest neighbour DR Congo, has 322 registered. In Southeast Asia, the situation is clearly most critical in Indonesia and Malaysia, each with over 1200 endangered species. In the Amazon, the small country of Ecuador tops the list, with as many as 2292 of its plants and animals listed, more than its giant Amazonian neighbour Brazil (934). On the positive side, at least we now know more about endangered species than before, and new technologies make it easier to monitor populations and identify threats. This puts us in a better position to take appropriate measures to halt the loss of biodiversity. Important individuals With so much diversity, does it really matter if a few species disappears? The question of the importance of individual species for the ecosystem is hotly debated among scientists. According to a 2013 study 28 of species-rich ecosystems, some species are extremely important for ecosystem functions. A part of the study examined tropical trees, more specifically the 662 species found in French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana. It found that rare species are far more important for the ecosystem than their numbers and distribution would suggest. One example is a tree only recently

are disappearing at a rate up to 1000 times faster than the natural extinction rate, 21 and nobody knows which species will be lost next.

In the deep cloud forests in the highlands of Ecuador, a hitherto unknown mammal has managed to hide from researchers until 2013. 22 The Olinguito ( Bassaricyon neblina ), which resembles a mix between a cat and a teddy bear, is related to the raccoon. The olinguito is a living proof that there is a lot we still do not know about the inhabitants of the world’s tropical forests. Like many other known and unknown species in the cloud forest, the olinguito is endangered because its habitat is under pressure. 23 Australia’s rainforests are also represented on the list of the most threatened species of the world: The newly discovered leaf tailed gecko ( Phyllurus gulbaru ), which has a variegated pattern and with an extremely broad tail as part of its ‘camouflage uniform’ is critically endangered. 24 Habitat destruction is the greatest threat to the great variation of plants and animals in the rainforest, and the main reason why so many species are on the brink of extinction. The Golden Toad, however, suffered a different fate. It became world famous as the first animal likely to have become extinct due to climate change. Although researchers still debate lively whether climate change actually caused the disappearance of this particular animal, it is generally agreed that climate change poses a threat to biodiversity and will lead to acceleration of the loss of species. Wildlife on large rainforest islands like Madagascar and the islands of Southeast Asia, together with the peripheral zones of the world’s rainforests, is particularly vulnerable. The IUCNs “red list” has listed 22,103 as threatened with extinction, based on assessment of more than 73,000 species. According to a recent

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We find tropical rainforests in all the equatorial regions of America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania, extending between the Tropics of Cancer, and Capricorn; north to central Mexico and the Indian plains, south to the southern part of Brazil and the northern tip of Australia. Occupying only 6 % of the earth’s land surface, and in spite of the relative poor soil, they contain a larger diversity of plants and animals than anywhere else on earth. The rainforests have evolved over the course of 50 to more than 100 million years. They exhibit great variation in climate – from evergreen rainforests where there is minimal variation in precipitation and temperature, to rainforests with seasonal variations of drier periods. They also vary in habitat – from swamp to dry land; and in elevation – from lowland to montane rainforest and cloud forest. Rainforests share, however, some general characteristics: Stable temperature: Around 20–25°C throughout the year. Wet: Annual rainfall exceeding 2,000 mm; some places can get up to 10,000 mm (10 m) per year. Dark: Only 2% of the sunlight falling on the upper canopy reaches the forest floor. Nutrient-poor soil: The soil is often acidic and nutrient-poor, but there are variations. Diverse: Theabundanceof animal andplant species isenormous. Asmany as 100 different tree species (types) can be found within one square kilometre. There are several millions of different animal species, and insects, reptiles, amphibians and mammals are especially well represented. The total number is unknown. Layers: The emergent layer consists of very tall trees (up to 60–70 meters). The dense canopy layer further down absorbs most of the sunlight, but along the trunks and stems grow dense lianas, lichens, mosses, ferns and flowering plants. The air in the lower layer is stagnant and humid. On the forest floor, it is cool and shady. Between branches and twigs, seeds can survive for years, waiting for the right conditions to re-awaken. What is a tropical rainforest? of the seeds germinate and become the next generation of trees. Moreover, in order to produce the nuts, the tree is dependent on a specific species of large-bodied bees – Euglossine orchid bees. The bees depend for it’s part on other species for their reproduction: Unless the male bee covers itself with the scent of a specific orchid, it won’t be able to attract the female. With such complex webs of interdependencies, it is no wonder that it has turned out to be impossible to grow the Brazil nut tree in plantations. But it also implies vulnerability: take away one species, and a whole chain of other plants and animals may be affected. 29

described in the rainforest in French Guiana, the Pouteria maxima . With its thick bark and leaves, this tree is exceptionally resistant to fire and drought and thereby has an important buffer function for maintaining forest structure in a time of climate change. The intricate interdependencies between species are illustrated by the Brazil nut tree ( Bertholletia excelsa ). These trees have particularly hard-shelled seed pods, which only the agouti – a large, forest- dwelling rodent with particularly strong teeth – is able to break. As the agouti stores the seeds in caches buried in the ground, some

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What do we get from the rainforest?

of extreme flooding events or river dry-up during the dry season. This has important implications for food security, enabling downstream farmers to pursue agricultural production with less risk. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the provision of drinking water is directly linked to the protection of ecosystems. More than two billion people today have an inadequate supply of drinking water – and their numbers could double in the next few decades. 34 Tropical forests serve as giant carbon storages. Healthy forests can help to buffer the impacts of extreme weather events, whose frequency and severity are expected to rise with continued global warming. Food and fuel Trees, in forests and on farmland, support bees and other pollinating insects, which in turn ensure the production of food grains and seeds for planting in future years. Forests play a crucial role as gene- pool reserves – including a large proportion of the agricultural crops cultivated around the world. 35 Crop genetic resources are the safety net vital for coping with pests and diseases, and for adapting future agriculture to a changing climate. Many of the foods consumed worldwide originate from the rainforest. For instance, the fruits and palm hearts of acai palm have been used as food for at least 1000 years. Growing in low-lying areas of the Amazon estuary, this palm still has great economic importance. Other food species from the tropical forests of South America include avocados, Brazil nuts, various chillis, papayas and sweet potatoes. The oil palm originates from Africa; and from the Australasian rainforests the world has bananas, sugar cane and wide range of spices. 36 In developing countries, wood-based fuels are the dominant source of energy for more than two billion poor people. 37 Medicines and human health Some 20–50% of turnover in the pharmaceutical sector today (USD 650 billion annually) derives from genetic resources. 38 In Africa, 80% of the population rely mainly on traditional medicines (plants and animals) for dealing with their health-care needs, according to the World Health Organization. One billion people worldwide depend on drugs derived from forests. Of the 52,000 medicinal plants used today, about 8% are threatened with extinction, according to the global TEEB study. 39 Human impacts on the environment have been associated with outbreaks of malaria, dengue, SARS, Ebola and other diseases. Intuitively, we might assume that species-rich environments would also foster an abundance of pathogens, and be a source

A gigantic sponge, a chemical factory or pharmacy, a supermarket, the lungs of the world, or our biological treasure-chest – the rainforest has been given many different names to describe its importance to humans and the global environment. Most of the services rainforests provide are given free of charge and are difficult to measure in monetary terms, although estimates of the value of services from rainforest ecosystems reach billions of dollars. The people of the rainforest often describe the forest as a ‘supermarket’ that provides the wide range of foods, medicines and materials needed for life in the forest. The rainforests are of paramount importance for the several hundred millions of people living in or near them, including 60 million indigenous peoples who are wholly dependent on the forests for their material, cultural and spiritual well-being. 30 But the tropical forests of the world also provide ecosystem services of immense value regionally and globally: these include water and climate regulation, water purification, pollination and carbon storage. The rainforests of the Amazon, for instance, sequester carbon from the global atmosphere, regulate the water balance and flow of the entire Amazon river system, influence the patterns of climate and air chemistry with impacts beyond the continent. 31 The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment divides forest ecosystem services into four categories: Provisioning services , such as wild foods, crops, fresh water and plant-derived medicines; Regulating services , filtration of pollutants by wetlands, climate regulation through carbon storage and water cycling, pollination and protection from disasters; Cultural services , like recreation, spiritual and aesthetic values, education; and Supporting services such as soil formation, photosynthesis and nutrient cycling. Regulating services constitute a large part – two-thirds according to several studies – of the value of the tropical forest, and direct values like food, timber-based and other materials, represent a relatively smaller share. The comprehensive TEEB study (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) shows how the benefits of protecting forests outweigh the costs. Maintaining this natural capital is important for the sustained provision of future flows of ecosystem services and to ensure long-term human well-being. 32 Water and climate regulation: Rainforests are ‘sponges’ of global importance, essential for regulating water and rainfall in large parts of the world. Forests improve the quality of water by filtering it, and regulate the flow by storing water in the ground for gradual release. According to the FAO, some two-thirds of the water usable for humans flows through forested watersheds. The forest’s water regulation reduces the risks

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How much is it worth? Biodiversity in the world’s tropical forests provides services of huge economic value, but is difficult to measure. Many estimates have been made, however, and the value amounts to trillions of dollars. 42 What is even more difficult to express in monetary terms is how biodiversity contributes to ecosystem resilience – or the ability to continue providing services under changing environmental conditions – as natural insurance against shocks. 43 As rainforests are destroyed, the values and services they provide are threatened. The sustainability of nearly two-thirds of our planet’s supply of ecosystem services may be in jeopardy. 44 This directly affects poor people today, and further degradation will make it harder to achieve development goals in the future. 45

for the spread of disease. In fact, research has shown the opposite. Biodiversity loss causes the loss of an important ecosystem service: buffering the spread of infectious diseases to humans, animals and plants. The decline of biodiversity may lead to the more rapid emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases. 40 The positive linkages between biodiversity and health are well documented, and the examples are many. In the Peruvian Amazon, mosquitoes associated with malaria were observed to bite people 278 times more frequently in deforested areas than in areas still predominantly forested. In Indonesia, communities living near Ruteng Park have fewer cases of malaria and dysentery, fewer school days missed due to illness, and less hunger associated with crop failure than similar communities without intact forests nearby. 41

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

The rainforest and climate change

increasingly being converted into plantations, and the magnitude of emissions resulting from this has global impact. A source of emissions Brazil and Indonesia, two of the world’s most important rainforest countries, have for decades had so massive emissions from deforestation that they rank among the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Brazil has since 2005 succeeded in drastically reducing its rate of deforestation, thereby delivering the last decade’s single-most significant contribution to reduced emissions globally. In Indonesia, on the other hand, it appears that deforestation – and consequently the emission of greenhouse gases – has been increasing in recent years. For some rainforest countries, emissions from deforestation mean that their climate gas emissions per capita are on par with many industrialized countries. According to the World Resources Institute, Papua New Guinea, Brazil and Indonesia all have higher emissions per capita than Norway and France in 2011. 48 Emissions due to deforestation are somewhere in excess of 3 billion tons of CO 2 . The newest estimates, including those used by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that deforestation currently accounts for 11% of global anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. 49 However, data on emissions from deforestation are estimates – not exact science. Figures for the annual amount of forest that is destroyed are uncertain, and even less is known about how much forest is being degraded and the resulting emissions.

Reducing the destruction of the world’s rainforests is crucial if we are to limit global warming. About 11% of global emissions of greenhouse gases stem from deforestation. At the same time, rainforests can be severely affected by climate change. Habitat fragmentation and degradation increase the forests’ vulnerability. It is uncertain exactly how rainforests will be affected by climate change, but we know that deforestation must be reduced in order to cut emissions and reinforce the resilience of the remaining forests. Carbon bank and carbon sink According to the FAO, the world’s forests store around 650 billion tons of carbon; more carbon than what is found in the atmosphere. When forests are burnt or destroyed, the carbon is released as CO 2 . When forests grow, either through expansion of forest area or because old forests become denser and more carbon-rich, they bind CO 2 and convert it to carbon in the form of wood and other biomass. According to a study of the three large rainforest regions in the world – the Amazon, the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia – the world’s rainforests contain 42% of all carbon stored in forests, even if they only account for 33% of the forested areas. 46 The carbon content of rainforests is thus significantly higher than for other forest types. The Amazon forest contains 176 billion tons of carbon (27% of all carbon in forests), more than the rainforests of the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia put together. Still, the peat forests of Indonesia top the list of most carbon per hectare of forest. 47 Peat forests are

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

World biomes and carbon storage

Carbon stored by biome* Billion of tonnes (Gigatonnes)

Tropical, Subtropical Forests

600

Boreal Forest

500

Temperate Forest

Temperate Grasslands, Savannas Shrublands

400

Deserts and Dry Shrubland

300

Tropical, Subtropical, Savannas, Shrublands

Tundra

200

100

* Carbon storage values include above- and below-ground storage and soil storage. Values calculated by UNEP-WCMC, 2009

0

Source: Adapted from Olson, D., M., Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: a new map of life on Earth. Bioscience, 2001; WCMC 2009

instance, are no longer reliable, and although this is not systematic and scientifically produced knowledge, it corresponds to the changes being observed by researchers. The 2014 report from the IPCC states that both in South America and in Central Africa one can conclude with “medium certainty” that changes in rainfall, floods and droughts are related to climate change. 52 The geographical distribution of species is changing because of climate change. 53 There is an emerging debate about whether climate change has already led to the extinction of species, and about what level of climate change that may trigger large scale extinction. 54 The IPCC has previously assessed that as much as 30% of the world’s biodiversity could be threatened in a “medium scenario”, with temperature rise by more than 3 degrees centigrade. 55 The huge, densely forested areas of the Amazon, the Congo Basin – and to some extent Southeast Asia – have a direct impact on the planet’s systems for exchanging oxygen and humidity, producing rainfall and cloud formations. There is a lot of uncertainty regarding how climate change will affect this, but the consequences may be far-reaching. Both in the Amazon and in the Congo Basin the forests themselves generate a large part of total rainfall. If the forests are reduced to such an extent that their capacity to create their own rainfall is hampered, a tipping point will be reached that may have irreversible consequences. This mechanism is best understood in the Amazon, where the Andean mountain range prevents humidity from escaping west into the Pacific, driving rainfall north and south of the Equator. Reduced rainfall and cloud formation are bound to affect agricultural production within these regions, and the effect may reach other continents.

Improved remote sensing and monitoring technology nevertheless means that figures for forest cover, carbon content and the emissions stemming from forest destruction gradually become more reliable. In the 2007 IPCC report, emissions from deforestation were estimated to be 17%. The fact that the current estimate has been reduced to 11% does not primarily reflect reductions in deforestation, however. Greenhouse gas emissions from other sources have increased significantly, and methods for calculating emissions have developed. 50 Even if deforestation currently contributes relatively less to overall carbon emissions, it is still vital to reduce forest-related emissions to reach the international goals of limiting climate change to below two degrees centigrade. Halting the destruction of tropical forests is more important than the 11% share would seem to indicate. In addition to their role in regulating climate patterns and rainfall and absorbing and storing carbon, emissions from tropical deforestation may be reduced rapidly, as the Brazilian example demonstrates. Given the urgency of rapidly reducing emissions, and the time it will take to alter the global energy matrix from fossil to renewable sources – reducing emissions from deforestation is vital. Climate change threatens the rainforest Rainforests are vulnerable to climate change. Higher temperatures and less rainfall over a period of time can lead to drought in areas that usually have moist rainforest, as we have seen happen in the Amazon and Asia during recent years. 51 Rainforest inhabitants describe that the climate is changing. Traditional signs indicating when to plant, for

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