Entries tagged "make forests count"

Making Forests Count for Caribou And You update

Dec 17, 2009

Back in October, I blogged about why Making Forests Count at the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen is important to caribou and you.

Just before CPAWS’ climate and forest expert Chris Henschel took off for Copenhagen to attend the talks, I got the chance to sit down with him to hear what he expected and hoped for from the negotiations. Here is the video of our conversation:

(watch meet Chris Henschel video on YouTube)

Since then, Chris has been reporting about the UN negotiations around forests and climate change in Copenhagen via his Make Forests Count Scorecard, Forests and Climate Change blog and Biocarbonman twitter account. The news early on was dire. Only Switzerland agreed to account for real carbon emissions from cutting down forests while the other developed countries wanted to create a logging loophole:

(watch logging loophope video on YouTube)

But, then a glimmer of hope. Out of nowhere France stepped up to the table and agreed to make forests count and urged the other EU countries to follow suit. With this hopeful news I crossed my hooves hoping to hear of developed nations siding with France and Switzerland to make forests count. But now as the clock ticks down to the last day of meetings, it looks as though an agreement might not even be finalized. Whatever comes out of Copenhagen, one thing is clear. Making Forests Count will continue to be an important issue. This means the Make Forests Count team will continue to pursue and support the right change for our climate.

Join the cause and follow the news at:
www.MakeForestsCount.org
Make Forests Count on facebook
Chris Henschel’s Blog
Chris Henschel on twitter

New report confirms boreal forests are vital to caribou and you!

Nov 12, 2009

The Boreal Songbird Initiative and the Canadian Boreal Initiative today posted the findings of a new scientific report "The Carbon the World Forgot". The report's findings confirm how important boreal forests are to the fight against climate change. Besides being the life blood for a large variety of wild life, including me and my boreal woodland caribou family and friends, the boreal is also vital to your health and well being because it is the world's largest land carbon store. Boreal forests represent 22% of all carbon stored on our planet's land surface.

Some other interesting findings are:

1. Boreal forests hold almost twice as much carbon per area as tropical forests.
2. Boreal forests can keep large amounts of carbon out of our atmosphere for thousands of years by storing the carbon underground in deep peatlands and permafrost soils.
3. Canada has the largest intact Boreal forest.

So how should these new findings be used to fight climate change? According the report:

The Kyoto Protocol failed to create sufficient incentives for forest conservation and sustainable forestry. Carbon accounting for peatlands, the planet’s most carbon-rich ecosystems, was also not included.

Future climate change protocols must be better suited to motivate stewardship of the massive quantity of carbon stored in forest and peatland ecosystems.

Two simple changes to the protocol that would have far-reaching beneficial impacts are 1) inclusion of peatland carbon; and 2) mandatory accounting of all carbon emissions from forest management, without an obligation to account for emissions caused by natural disturbances. This protocol should also require a positive or neutral affect on biodiversity and ecosystem services in order to maintain capacity to adapt.

In other words, our leaders need to Make Forests Count in the next agreement on climate change. If you want your Government to make forests count, then go to www.makeforestscount.org and sign the email or petition. It will take you less than a minute to do, so please take a minute to do it now.

I would like to send a BIG woodland caribou THANK YOU to the Boreal Songbird Initiative, the Canadian Boreal Initiative, and the authors of the report for all of their hard work in putting together and publishing these very important findings. You are helping to save the lives of both of our species, families, and friends. Thank you.

Blog Action Day 2009: Why Making Forests Count is a Caribou concern

Oct 15, 2009

Some people ask me “Bou, why the heck is a woodland caribou involved in the Make Forests Count campaign?”  Well, the big picture answer is that climate change is a threat to all mammals – whether they be human or ungulate. In fact, it's a common threat to all living things on this planet. But on a personal caribou level here is why making forests count is so important to me:

• I am a woodland caribou.
• We live in the boreal forest.
• Canada’s boreal forest is one of the largest remaining intact ecosystems on the planet.
• This makes it one of the most important carbon storehouses on Earth.
• To fight climate change we have to reduce the amount of carbon released into our atmosphere.
• This means we have to keep the boreal carbon storehouse intact as much as possible and make those who cut it down accountable for the carbon they release.
• If we protect the boreal we protect my family, my friends, my species and we protect your family, your friends, and your species.
• This is what the Make Forests Count campaign is all about and it applies to all forests, wetlands, and life around the world.

If this makes sense to you, then I urge you to make forests count. Just go to MakeForestsCount.org and sign the petition or send the email to your political leader telling them to make forests count at the next United Nations climate change meeting in Copenhagen this December.
For more details about the campaign watch this video or go to MakeForestsCount.org and TAKE ACTION NOW.

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