Africa Geographic June 2008 [antikvár]

It is encouraging that combating deforestation is now firmly on the climate change agenda, but the road ahead is severely potholed Mahale Mountains National Park, tucked Into a peninsula on the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, is remote by any standard - motorboat, steamer or light aircraft are the only means of access. But all who make the pilgrimage return enraptured, not only by chimp encounters but, perhaps even more so, by 'the beautifully warm, clear waters of Lake Tanganyika lapping gently on pristine sandy beaches, overlooked by forested mountains that rise dramatically from the shoreline'. So says Charlie Furniss in his 'Secrets of the south' (see page 50). Look westwards from the fringe of Mahale's beach across the deep waters of the lake and the view is no less entrancing, especially in those brief moments as a blazing African sun slides quickly behind the distant, rainforest-olad mountains of the great Congo Basin. Well, one hopes that the peaks in view are forest-clad. A few weeks ago, I received an update on the state of the world's tropical forests from EarthTrends, the environmental portal Initiated by the US-based World Resources Institute. Not unexpectedly, the opening statements made for disquieting reading. The significance of forests are beyond important to the planet's wellbeing - some 300 million people subsist below their canopies, most of whom are desperately poor; the forests harbour some 70 per cent of all life forms; and their role In flood control and soil protection is vital. However, despite valiant efforts on the part of consen/ation agencies and some limited local successes, the global battle to halt rapid forest destruction is being lost. Between 2000 and 2005, the report states, roughly 13 million hectares of forest disappeared each year, with the largest losses occurring In the biologically rich, tropical forests of the developing wodd. Ironically, where the conventional strategies of environmental lobbying and action have won little ground, the growing domination of climate change in the political and commercial agendas of the world might just bring greater hope for our planet's great green lungs. How so? Well, climate change brings new and very immediate imperatives to the fore. Forests, and particularly tropical forests, are vast carbon sinks and their current rate of destruction, according to the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is responsible for some 15 to 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In terms of the Kyoto Protocol, the importance of forests was largely overlooked, but as the Kyoto period draws towards its end in 2012, the world is actively seeking ways to integrate forest protection and even regeneration into a new global strategy. With inter-governmental negotiations underway for a post-Kyoto world, 'reduced emissions from deforestation in developing countries' (reduced to REDD by our insatiable need to have acronyms for everything) are in the llmelighL It is encouraging that combating deforestation is now firmly on the climate change agenda, but the road ahead is severely potholed and unlikely to deliver a neat and comprehensively positive result As EarthTrends' Crystal Davis writes:" questions of how to design and implement a mechanism to achieve REDD are proving exceptionally complex and controversial, inspiring uncertainty that it will generate real benefits for the global climate, forests and forest communities'. In the meantime, some four million hectares of forest are lost to Africa each year - that's almost the size of the Selous Game Reserve, Africa's largest protected area. Frightening, isn't It? About our magazine Africa Geographic is editorially and financially independent. It enjoys the support and endorsement of several non-government organisations, but it is not affiliated in any way to these bodies or to any other publishing, environmental or political interest group. Africa Geographic strives to foster an awareness of wildlife, consen/ation, ecotravel, indigenous cultures and the general environment. It consistently advocates the wisest use of natural resources in a manner that involves and is of real benefit to the people of Africa. Africa Geographic is published 11 times a year. _