COP28 UAE | Deforestation in Angola | Keeping 1.5 degrees in reach is essential to protecting vulnerable nations from rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and desertification

 

Forest destruction is a crisis for the whole planet

Deforestation is a common practice all over the world and is directly related to the need we have for wood-based resources. But the leading cause of drastic and sometimes irreversible climate change is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

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Hello friends!

My name is Sofonie Dala, I'm from Angola.

Today I'm going to talk about deforestation in my community due to human activities.

Every day I see people cutting down trees around their homes. These practices have become increasingly common among citizens, who cut down trees without any conscience about the damage this will cause to the environment and society.

The most common excuses are expressions such as, this tree is generating a lot of trash, we are tired of sweeping the sidewalks.

But I don't condemn these people, they are simply not informed about the importance of tree conservation, and about climate change.

Not everyone learns about these concepts in educational institutions.

There are also few public awareness campaigns about global warming, climate change and environmental preservation. People are uninformed and poorly educated.

This is where the importance of non-formal education comes in, word of mouth education, on the streets, in communities and knocking on doors to talk about it.

Non-formal training is free and can be carried out in any type of environment and at any time.

Trees are cut down for many reasons, including building houses and furniture, opening up land for new use, and creating other wood-based resources. This process can damage environments, but the negative effects can be prevented when it is done mindfully with efforts to help restore the environment. 

Negative: Deforestation Degrades Soil

One impact that deforestation has is that it degrades the soil in the area. How, you may ask?

When there are no longer trees to help maintain a life cycle of growth (seeds falling, animals eating them, insects in the soil below them), the soil itself has less opportunity to maintain a good, healthy, balance of nutrients. 

Deforestation & Greenhouse Gases: Why Do Forests Matter

The leading cause of drastic and sometimes irreversible climate change is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Trees have an exceptional ability to trap and accumulate greenhouse gases, saving the planet from overheating.

However, large-scale and uncontrolled deforestation increases greenhouse gases and adds substantially to the rise in temperature and the escalation of climate change. Thus, reducing the loss of forests and greenhouse gas emissions, along with focusing on forest cover restoration, are necessary. These actions can be accomplished by relying on modern technologies to analyze the situation from various angles and make informed decisions about saving forests and reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Deforestation Effects On Greenhouse Gases Emissions and Climate Change

The two main processes of tree participation in the gas formation and exchange cycle are directly related to the impact of deforestation on climate change. The first process is the absorption of CO2 emissions from manufacturing and other human activities. The second is the release of carbon stored in trees into the atmosphere, primarily as carbon dioxide, caused by deforestation. Forest preservation is advantageous in terms of both of these processes.

Does deforestation increase greenhouse gases?

Deforestation contributes up to 11% of total GHG emissions yearly 

 — nearly as much as all of the world’s vehicles combined.

Increased greenhouse gases due to deforestation provoke climate change. It results in storms, abnormal heat, droughts, and fires. Such climate changes devastate already-vulnerable forests, resulting in a dangerous cycle of shifts for the entire planet’s future.

Reducing deforestation, preserving existing forests, and planting new ones will help mitigate climate change and keep atmospheric and land temperatures within acceptable limits. As a result, it is critical to monitor the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions, slow down deforestation, and implement other measures that will have an immediate and long-term positive impact.

WHY FORESTS MATTER

As well as being stunningly beautiful, forests are vital for the health of our planet. They provide food and shelter for so much of life on Earth – from fungi and insects to tigers and elephants.  

More than half the world's land-based plants and animals, and three-quarters of all birds, live in and around forests. 

Forests have a big influence on rainfall patterns, water and soil quality and flood prevention too. Millions of people rely directly on forests as their home or for making a living. 

But the risks from deforestation go even wider. Trees absorb and store carbon dioxide. If forests are cleared, or even disturbed, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.  

Forest loss and damage is the cause of around 10% of global warming. There’s simply no way we can fight the climate crisis if we don’t stop deforestation.   

We need to protect forests now more than ever. 

The most incredible thing about all this is that while in other countries people use the cut trees for the common benefit, in Angola people don't use the trunks, they throw them in the trash. This is a total waste of the trees.

Goal 15 is about conserving life on land. It is to protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and stop biodiversity loss.

Earth’s ecosystems are vital for sustaining human life, they contribute to over half of global GDP and encompass diverse cultural, spiritual, and economic values.

However, the world is facing a triple crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

Between 2015 and 2019, at least 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land were degraded every year, impacting the lives of 1.3 billion people.

Agricultural expansion is the direct driver of almost 90 per cent of deforestation. This is in direct relation to our food systems, and oil palm harvesting accounted for 7 per cent of global deforestation from 2000 to 2018.

Global and regional efforts to sustain forest ecosystems as well as their social, economic and environmental functions are essential, in particular for developing countries and the tropics.

We need to shift humanity’s relationship with nature to achieve Goal 15, and realise that nature is the root of our life of earth. The recently adopted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework provides renewed impetus for Goal 15, outlining four outcome- oriented goals to be achieved by 2050 and 23 targets to be achieved by 2030.

SDG 15.2: End Deforestation and Restore Degraded Forests

By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.

OUR COLLECTIONS MATTER INDICATORS

• Proportion of forests in a good ecological condition.
• Information on, programmes relating to, collections development, and partnerships relating to forests drawing on collections in place, to support their protection and effective functioning.