To Combat Climate Change, Save the Canopy

Masoala National Park, Madagascar  ©WCS/J.Maher

When a tree falls in the forest, perhaps no one hears it; but when the forest itself falls, we’ll know the difference. Tropical forest loss is one of the most significant drivers of climate change, accounting for as much as 25 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. To help stem this tide, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has joined the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA). This partnership of research institutions, corporations, and environmental groups designs and evaluates climate change mitigation projects that also support biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

“The world is facing two simultaneous crises—the mass extinction of species globally, and the unprecedented pace of climate change due to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” said Dr. John G. Robinson, executive vice president of WCS. “With over 500 projects in more than 60 countries around the world, WCS can place its tangible, field-based knowledge of how to protect forests and other habitats in the service of carbon mitigation.”

The Alliance has produced a set of CCB Standards to help guide local communities, national governments, and other groups that are developing carbon mitigation projects. The Chinese government has endorsed the Standards as an effective means to help develop sustainable forestry programs. A CCBA scorecard also allows private-sector companies, donor organizations, and government agencies to screen and identify those projects that offer the most attractive and lowest-risk investments. Some of the largest investors in the carbon forestry arena are using this scorecard.

The CCB Standards and scorecard effectively place a market value on climate benefits provided by protected forests. This creates an incentive for local communities to restore and conserve them. According to Toby Janson-Smith, director of the CCBA, “Climate change, human impoverishment, and species loss are closely interconnected issues. Historically, many of the world’s poorest people have been forced to liquidate their natural resource base simply to survive. Now, through the development of CCB projects, local communities have an attractive and viable alternative.”
 
WCS has been working to incorporate the CCB Standards into the Makira Forest Project, established in 2000 in partnership with the government of Madagascar and local communities in the region. The project is expected to prevent the emission of nearly 9.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the next 30 years by protecting 1,350 square miles of rain forest on this island nation. The project also protects Makira’s many rare wildlife inhabitants—such as lemurs, serpent eagles, chameleons, and geckos—that live nowhere else on Earth. Pearl Jam, Imperial Tobacco, and Mitsubishi, among other groups, have taken voluntary carbon offset commitments by investing in the Makira Forest Project.

To learn more about how you can confront climate change, conserve biodiversity, and help local communities as a project developer or investor, visit www.climate-standards.org.

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