With barely a month left for
the global climate change negotiations in Durban, China is been hosting the
ninth BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) ministerial meet Oct 31-Nov
1. Representatives of the countries of Group 77, island countries and the Arab
League also attended the meeting.
A meeting of experts will be held alongside this meeting to carve out a strategy
for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Conference of Parties 17 (COP 17) to be held in Durban, South Africa, Nov 28-Dec
9. Politics of Green and climate change issues are been discussing in this
Beijing meeting, Forest as major source of climate play important role in
climate change and have great significance.
Forests have four major roles in climate change: they currently contribute about
one-sixth of global carbon emissions when cleared, overused or degraded; they
react sensitively to a changing climate; when managed sustainably, they produce
wood fuels as a benign alternative to fossil fuels; and finally, they have the
potential to absorb about one-tenth of global carbon emissions projected for the
first half of this century into their biomass, soils and products and store them
“Forests and trees on farms are a direct source of food and cash income for more
than a billion of the world’s poorest people,” Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) Assistant Director-General for Forestry Eduardo Rojas-Brails said.
“They provide both staple foods and supplemental foods. To enhance these
benefits, governments and development partners should increase investments in
support of sustainable forest management and rehabilitation of degraded forest
lands,” he added, noting that in India, more than 50 million people depend
directly on forests for subsistence, while in Laos wild foods are consumed by 80
per cent of its 6.4 million people on a daily basis.
Forests can play an even greater role in feeding the world with products ranging
from vitamin-rich leaves to fruits and roots. According to the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), there were 4.033 billion hectares of forest or
31% of total land area standing in the world in 2010. That's down slightly from
2000.
With 1 billion people suffering from chronic hunger, the role of forests for
timber must not overshadow their important contribution to feeding many of the
world's poorest communities, and their over-exploitation for wood must be
curbed, according to the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), a 14-member
group which includes several UN agencies.
The story of the world's forests is usually a depressing one. Tropical rain
forests are under pressure in South America, Asia and Africa, threatening
habitat for countless species and adding billions of tons of carbon dioxide to
the atmosphere every year. but the good news is that the rate of overall forest
loss has slowed considerably, dropping from 8.3 million hectares lost a year in
the 1990s to 5.2 million hectares a year, thanks in part to significant
reforestation taking place throughout much of Asia.
Women also play an important part in the processing of tree and forest products,
the income from which helps their families achieve food security. For instance,
women use shea as a cooking fat and food accompaniment in West Africa. The
harvesting and processing of shea, which is an important ingredient in chocolate
and other confectionery, provides rural women with nearly 80 percent of their
income.
Emmanuel Ze Meka, Executive Director of the International Tropical Timber
Organization, noted, "Food products are the fastest growing component of
non-timber forest products in many tropical countries. And adding value to the
forest makes it more likely to remain forest rather than converted to other
uses."
As a part of the developing world, BASIC countries hope to reach consensus on
climate change through candid and deep discussions to lay the groundwork for the
upcoming Durban conference, Xie Zhenhua, vice minister of the National
Development and Reform Commission, also China's chief negotiator of climate
change also attend the meeting. This was the six meeting of BASIC Countries Hope
finally the might agreed on some environmental friendly solutions that must be
practicable.