GeMUN 2016
Environment Commission
Advancing strategies to reduce the exploitation of forests and
consequent deforestation
Officers:
Maryan Ghuloum
Viola Vercelli
Index
I.
Introduction
II.
Definition of Key Terms
III.
Background Information
IV.
UN Involvement
V.
Bibliography
I.
Introduction
Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the
land available for other uses. An estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million
hectares) of forest, which is roughly the size of the country of Panama, are
destroyed each year, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). As we know forests cover almost a third of the Earth’s
land surface providing many environmental benefits, including a major role
in the soil conservation, prevention of climate change and hydrologic cycle.
Moreover, forest resources can provide long-term economic benefits. For
example, at least 145 countries are currently involved in wood production.
Thirty percent of the Earth’s land area or about 3.9 billion hectares is
covered by forests.
Deforestation has occurred in the temperate and sub-tropical areas. It is no
longer notable in the developed temperate countries and in fact many of
them are now recording increases in forest area. However deforestation was
utterly inferior in tropical moist deciduous forests in 1990-2000 rather than
in 1980-1990. Thanks to satellites imagery, it was found that FAO
overestimated deforestation of tropical rainforests by 23 percent. In reality,
60 percent of the deforestation that occurred in such areas during 1990-2010
was in dry and moist deciduous forests.
II.
Definition of Key Terms
 Extinction: the fact or condition of being extinguished or extinct that leads to
the loss of biodiversity of, for example, microbes (bacteria), plants, insects,
animals (endemic species), indigenous peoples, etc.
 Habitat fragmentation: fragmentation of the animals' habitat that force them to
enter habitats which are already occupied, causing territorial conflicts,
homelessness (loss of habitat), lack of food availability, migration issues, etc.
 Desertification: the rapid depletion of plant life and the loss of topsoil at desert
boundaries and in semiarid regions, usually caused by droughts and the
overexploitation of vegetation by people.
 Climate change: a long-term change in the earth's climate due to an increase in
the average atmospheric temperature (more carbon dioxide is released into the
atmosphere, thus increasing the effects of global warming).
 Pollution: the introduction of harmful or poisonous substances into an
environment (e.g. mining chemicals).
III.
Background Information
Deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to global
climate change. The impact on the global carbon cycle is undoubtedly one
of the most important problems. We know that carbon dioxide is the most
widespread greenhouse gas (gas molecules absorbed by infrared radiation).
If greenhouse gases increase, they can force climate change. On the
contrary, oxygen is the second most abundant gas in our atmosphere and it
does not absorb thermal infrared radiation.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, deforestation has caused a
decrease in global vapor flows from land by 4 percent; that means that a
slight change in vapor flows can affect natural weather dynamics and hence
transform climate models.
Seventy percent of the world’s plants and animals living in forests will soon
lose their habitats because of deforestation, according to National
Geographic. As a consequence this will lead to species extinction and to a
negative impact on the life of local populations who rely on forests in order
to survive.
The WWF reports that half of the trees removed are used as fuel, but they
are also exploited in order to make more land available for housing, cattle
ranching, urbanization and to create commercial items (paper, furniture)
and ingredients (the oil from palm trees).
The most common tactics of deforestation are burning trees and clear
cutting, which leave the land completely unproductive.
IV.
UN Involvement
On December 2007, the United Nations Climate Change Conference took
place in Bali, Indonesia. After 10 days of intense discussion, more than 180
countries agreed to the Bali Roadmap. The Bali Roadmap guided
participating countries in emissions reduction and led to a binding agreement
at the 2009 United Nations summit in Denmark. The United States and
China initially did not agree to mandatory reductions, wanting countries to
set their own goals, but they eventually conceded.
In 2008, the United Nations launched a program where rich countries have
been involved in order to help poor ones to slow climate change by
protecting and planting forests. This program, called Reduced Emissions
from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Program, or UN-REDD, has
been assisting nine developing countries, including Bolivia, Indonesia and
Zambia, in establishing systems to monitor, assess and report forest cover.
More recently, France hosted the 21st Session of the Conference of the
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(COP21/CMP11) from 30 November 2015 to 11 December 2015.
FAO provided technical advice to its member countries, making sure that the
links between climate change, agriculture and food security are made.
A great event was Forest Action Day, the first in a series of events under the
Lima-Paris Action Agenda, focusing on the fight against deforestation and
the elimination of its use in agro-supply chains, forest protection, landscape
restoration and financing.
V.
Bibliography
http://www.fao.org/climate-change/international-fora/majorevents/unfccc-cop-21/en/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-deforestation-un-enviroidUSTRE48N91C20080924
http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html
http://kids.mongabay.com/lesson_plans/lisa_algee/deforestation.html
http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/36125.pdf
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/greenscience/deforestation3.htm