The Hindu Business Line : Deforestation leading to global warming: Report

Mumbai May 17 Intense international pressure is beginning to build over climate change. Serious apprehensions of threat to life and livelihood associated with imminent changes in atmospheric conditions because of greenhouse gases and carbon di-oxide (CO2) emissions seem to be gaining renewed urgency among nations, especially the industrialised ones.

Earlier this month, a report from the International Panel on Climate Change created quite a stir among policymakers globally by highlighting catastrophic changes emissions can bring about.

Latest to raise alarm over global warming and blaming it on rampant deforestation is a report from the Oxford-based Global Canopy Programme (GCP), an alliance of leading rainforest scientists.

The Independent ran a lead story today titled `Deforestation: The hidden cause of global warming'.

Stop destruction

Merely halting destruction of rainforests in Brazil, Indonesia and Congo can help contribute to lower CO2 emission, according to GCP. Last week, Indonesia had the dubious distinction of becoming the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, closely followed by Brazil.

Both Brazil and Indonesia are not exactly highly industrialised; but much of the emission comes from rampant destruction of rainforests that provide green cover. Tropical forest in these countries is rapidly cut and burned to make way for more land either for industry or for commercial agriculture.

Closer home, in Indonesia, world's second largest producer and exporter of palm oil, trees in large tracts of forest land are regularly felled at a rapid pace and burned to make way for expanding oil palm plantation. Huge investments have already flowed into oil palm plantation business in Indonesia.

Sharply rising palm oil market and consequential enormous profits made by plantation companies have further encouraged destruction of forests and burning of trees to make way for expansion of area under oil palm. This year (2007) Indonesia is likely to overtake Malaysia as the world's largest palm oil producer.

Cheapest solution

What scary reports and international pressure can do to stop deforestation in developing countries is unclear. But GCP asserts that stopping loggers is the fastest and cheapest solution to global climate change.

The big step towards biofuels in the last couple of years has resulted in a sharp price spike in some of the food crops that are now becoming fuel crops. For instance, corn prices in the US have doubled in last one year. Corn is used to make ethanol that is blended with gasoline. Vegetable oil is used to make biodiesel. Europe is a major user of biodiesel, followed by the US. Crude palm oil prices jumped from $560 a tonne to $780 a tonne in the last two months based on increased demand from the fuel sector.

The biofuel juggernaut is unlikely to slowdown anytime soon as huge investments have been pumped in. A judicious global policy to encourage biofuels without compromising on attempts to reduce global warming could be the way forward.

Oil palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia have already been facing attacks from environmentalists on the ground of further endangering the already endangered species of forest life. How they will stave off the latest one remains to be seen.

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