Earth's Newsdesk

After being a lone voice in the wilderness for decades, Dr. Glen Barry and Ecological Internet's biocentric forest protection position has been adopted by most major forest protection organizations. It remains to be determined how those committing to keeping such logging out of UN carbon finance can reconcile with their support for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of first time old forest logging. Regardless, time to unite the forest and climate movements going into Copenhagen with strong message of protecting and restoring standing old forests for local development and biodiversity benefits, and regional and global climate and ecosystem sustainability.

A grouping of key global forest protection organizations has issued a remarkably strong statement regarding the need to end deforestation AND forest diminishment in the lead up to the Copenhagen climate conference (see their statement and news coverage below). In a first of its kind proclamation, that may mark a crucial turning point in the global movement to achieve ecological sustainability, groups from around the world call not only for an immediate halt to deforestation, but also for an end to first time industrial logging of the world's remaining primary forests (and many other ecologically sufficient forest policies). Many supporters of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of primary forest logging as environmentally beneficial, including Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network, acknowledge that even 'Reduced Impact Logging' in primary forests releases massive amounts of carbon [1]. Whether these groups will renounce FSC or not remains problematic.

This comes after the launch last week of a vitally important report from Global Witness entitled "Vested Interests - industrial logging and carbon in tropical forests" [2] which finds industrial logging under the guise of "Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)" is a major source of carbon emissions, a primary driver of deforestation, and threatens to derail the UN process to address climate change. Given the significance of forest degradation associated with primary forest logging in both greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, the "degradation" component of the proposed part of the global climate treaty dealing with forests (called REDD for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) must explicitly address forest decline. Failure to do so will reduce the effectiveness of the proposed carbon finance mechanism to both mitigate climate change and forest loss and diminishment.

More of the Earth's terrestrial ecosystems have already been lost and diminished than required to maintain an operable climate, all species and a fully operable biosphere. Simply, Earth needs more old forests and other natural habitats -- both strictly protected primary forests and restored old growth forests. Insofar as the carbon market can pay for this protection and restoration, while supporting community based ecoforestry uses of standing forests, they are worthy of support. If carbon monies pay for non-existent "sustainable forest management" and other industrial development of primary forests, replacing them with plantations and much diminished secondary forests (both in terms of biodiversity and carbon), it will facilitate the biosphere's continued decline and eventual collapse. Old forest destruction must end, and methods developed to benefit locally from standing forests, to sustain both the Earth's climate, biosphere, species and all peoples.

Ecological Internet (EI) fully supports the proclamation, and asks that our network member organizations endorse it as well [3]. Over the past three years Ecological Internet and tens of thousands of global protestors have publicly clashed with both Greenpeace and RAN (and WWF which did not sign the statement), asking for their commitment to work to end first time industrial logging of primary forests to address the threats of climate, biodiversity and ecosystem collapse; including ensuring the Forest Stewardship Council ceases certification of such practices as being environmentally beneficial. These efforts, often ridiculed and ignored, have now become the de facto unified position going into REDD carbon market negotiations at Copenhagen. The campaign has left EI beaten and bruised, as our reputation was tarnished, and our primary funder successfully lobbied to cease their support. We stand by our difficult decision to target allies on a matter of such fundamental ecological importance.

This is the first time many organizations such as Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace have gone on record so unequivocally supporting ending primary forest logging. "After years of protest action, and several dozen alerts and articles on the matter over the last decade, I am extremely gratified to see both RAN and Greenpeace, as well as all these leading groups, commit fully to ending primary forest logging. Ecological Internet's Earth Action Network is prepared to call off our campaign against Greenpeace and RAN as soon as they publicly reconcile their positions against first time primary forest logging and their ongoing support of the faltering Forest Stewardship Council 'eco' certification of such activities," states Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet President.

Best estimates remain that tens of millions of hectares of primary rainforests have been heavily industrially logged and diminished, and sold with FSC certification as 'green' timber for lawn furniture and other consumer items, with perhaps as much as 100 million hectares of primary forests threatened in the future. What does this statement by RAN, Greenpeace and other FSC supporters mean in this regard? Ecological Internet would find an effort by these groups to work within FSC to declare all primary and old growth forests as being 'High Value Conservation Forests' under their criteria, and thus ineligible for industrial first time logging, as an acceptable outcome. Or if this fails, to follow through on their pledge to work to ending primary forest logging, they will need to resign immediately from FSC.

"Let us unite going into Copenhagen behind a vision of protecting and restoring old forests. The timber industry, certified or not, must not be allowed to access REDD funds to subsidize their climate and ecosystem destruction," concludes Dr. Barry. "It is time to acknowledge FSC, to date, has been heavily dependent upon primary forest logging for its existence. This must change if primary forest logging is to end. Ecological Internet looks forward to working with these groups to end ancient forest logging, and next bringing ecologically sufficient policies against biomass energy and geo-engineering to the mainstream environmental communities."

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By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet (EI)
http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/
CONTACT: Dr. Glen Barry, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org