TreeBanker’s Blog

This includes a complementary climate change target of reducing gross forest-based greenhouse gas emissions by at least 75 per cent by 2020. Together these targets set a global benchmark for success in tackling the problem of deforestation at the scale and pace needed to prevent runaway climate change and avoid a catastrophic decline in biodiversity.



Three-toed Sloth, Atlantic Forest, Brazil © Chris Townend/ Birdseekers,
from the surfbirds galleries


“Zero Net deforestation” can be distinguished from “zero deforestation”, which means no deforestation anywhere. The “zero net” target acknowledges that some forest loss could be offset by forest restoration. In other words, Zero net deforestation is not synonymous with a total prohibition on forest clearing. Rather, it leaves room for change in the configuration of the land-use mosaic, provided the net quantity, quality and carbon density of forests is maintained.


It recognizes that, in some circumstances, conversion of forests in one site may contribute to the sustainable development and conservation of the wider landscape (e.g. reducing livestock grazing in a protected area may require conversion of forest areas in the buffer zone to provide farmland to local communities).


However, to maximize the conservation of biodiversity and the reduction of GHG emissions we need to conserve as much of the world’s remaining natural forests as possible.


Zero Net Deforestation by 2020 needs also to be translated into a GHG emission reduction target. As forest destruction is responsible for close to 20 % of global emissions, it is imperative that action to reduce emissions from deforestation be taken as part of the Copenhagen Agreement. This must be done in a manner that promotes the protection of biodiversity and fully respects the rights of local and indigenous peoples. Countries should commit to reducing gross forest-based greenhouse gas emissions by at least 75% by 2020.


WWF is calling for a zero net deforestation by 2020 policy because:
• Deforestation has dire consequences on biodiversity, the climate and people
• This target will enhance international efforts and processes linked to biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and protection and sustainable management of forests
• To prevent runaway climate change, greenhouse gas emission rates must peak before 2020 and decline to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
• With an annual reduction of 10% of the current global deforestation rate, the world can achieve zero deforestation by 2020
• It is expected that a REDD mechanism will become operational with the start of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2013. This will give a period of eight years during which the mechanism can contribute to the 2020 target.


For more information, visit http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_2020_zero_net_deforest_brief.pdf


Atlantic Forests – An emblem of change


Achieving zero net deforestation in the Atlantic Forest will remove a critical threat to this highly fragmented forest.


The forest is a unique area home to an extraordinary variety of plants and animal life. It hosts more than 20,000 plants species – of which 8,000 can be found nowhere else – and 1,000 bird species, 372 amphibians, 350 types of fish, 197 types of reptiles, and 270 mammals.


Though it initially spanned 500,000 square kilometres, shared between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, only 7.4 percent of the forest is left today – or about 35,000 square kilometres. This makes it one of the most threatened subtropical forests in the world.


Agricultural expansion, construction, growth of cities, and non-sustainable exploitation of the forest have led to the vast deforestation of the Atlantic Forest.


For more information, visit http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/atlantic_forests.cfm or http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/conservation/forests/