Topic: natural resources

Shale Gas

Kevin Lustig — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:10:56 -0500

WRI is providing insight into this issue by:

Creating guidance on how to define the life cycle of shale gas projects, in order to better assess their impacts
Studying how shale gas development in China affects the energy picture in the U.S. and internationally
Taking a detailed look at how we produce and consume energy in U.S. states and regions
Assessing the risk to water resources posed by shale gas development

Shale gas is a game-changer for global energy supply. It is already transforming the U.S. energy outlook (see figure below), and is expected to deliver over 40% of domestic gas production by 2025. Opinion is bitterly divided, however, over the environmental risks and benefits of this abundant new source of energy – so much so, that the different sides struggle to agree even on basic facts. The debate is raging over two key issues – on-the-ground impacts to water, air, communities, land use, wildlife, and habitats; and the broader energy and global warming implications of developing shale gas.

Upcoming Event
April 4, 2013
Launch of a new WRI working paper Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems

Managing Land for Mining and Conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Peter Veit — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:46:41 -0400

This paper originally appeared on the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group website. The full text of the paper is available here.

Summary

With significant areas of overlapping high biodiversity resources and mineral wealth, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces increasing pressure from competing uses of land widely considered incompatible. This policy paper reviews the rise of commercial mining and the mining concessions afforded ostensibly at the expense of conservation efforts where protected areas and mining permits overlap. The paper highlights the need for the DRC to review and harmonize multiple and often contradictory laws, strengthen land use laws, and build implemetation and enforcement capacity.

Read the full paper

Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle

Sarah Parsons — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:53:54 -0400

Summary: Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle

Download the 2011 global analysis of threats to coral reefs, Reefs at Risk Revisited

The World Resources Institute produced the report in close collaboration with the USAID-funded Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP). Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle was adapted from WRI’s 2011 global analysis of threats to coral reefs, Reefs at Risk Revisited, and supplemented with more recent and detailed data for the Coral Triangle region.

Threats to coral reefs in the Coral Triangle are much higher than the global average. More than 85 percent of reefs within the Coral Triangle Region are currently threatened by local stressors (such as overfishing, pollution, and coastal development), which is substantially higher than the global average of 60 percent. Nearly 45 percent are at high or very high threat levels. When the influence of recent thermal stress and coral bleaching is combined with these local threats, the percent of reefs rated as threatened increases to more than 90 percent, which is substantially greater than the global average of 75 percent.

Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle studies current and future threats to the Coral Triangle’s reefs, evaluates social and economic vulnerability to reef degradation and loss throughout the six countries, examines reef management initiatives, and identifies solutions to help safeguard reefs.

Parceria viabiliza inclusão de serviços ecossistêmicos nos planos de negócios das empresas

James Anderson — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:27:43 -0400

Ver texto em Português OR Read text in English here

Um grupo de empresas líderes brasileiras deu início hoje a uma parceria para incorporar serviços ecossistêmicos em suas estratégias de negócios. A Parceria Empresarial pelos Serviços Ecossistêmicos (PESE) representa um grande esforço para incluir a biodiversidade e os serviços ecossistêmicos na estratégia de negócios das empresas e melhorar o desempenho corporativo no Brasil, país sede da Conferência das Nações Unidas sobre Desenvolvimento Sustentável (Rio+20), no próximo mês.

A ideia é desenvolver estratégias que aliem o desempenho empresarial à gestão sustentável dos ecossistemas. Empresas líderes, como Anglo American, Grupo André Maggi, PepsiCo, Vale, Votorantim e Wal-Mart, estão entre as primeiras companhias participantes desta iniciativa. A parceria é coordenada pelo Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CEBDS), Centro de Estudos em Sustentabilidade da Fundação Getúlio Vargas (GVces) e World Resources Institute (WRI), com apoio da Agência dos Estados Unidos para o Desenvolvimento Internacional (USAID).

“A indústria depende dos serviços ecossistêmicos, como produção de alimentos, água doce e limpa, um clima estável, e proteção contra riscos naturais como enchentes, entre outros benefícios,” explicou Craig Hanson, diretor do Programa de Pessoas e Ecossistemas do WRI. “A PESE irá capacitar as companhias brasileiras a gerenciar proativamente riscos e oportunidades nos negócios, decorrentes de suas dependências e impactos sobre os serviços ecossistêmicos.”

A parceria irá impulsionar novas soluções de negócios em meio à larga degradação dos ecossistemas através da aplicação local da Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR), ou Revisão Corporativa dos Serviços Ecossistêmicos, metodologia líder de avaliação de serviços ecossistêmicos, desenvolvida pelo WRI, em cooperação com o World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) e o Meridian Institute. Aplicando a ESR, cada empresa parceira da PESE vai desenvolver estratégias para melhor competir e ter sucesso em um mundo que cada vez mais esbarra nos limites naturais dos ecossistemas.

“As companhias que já utilizam a ESR têm sido capazes de descobrir novas estratégias rentáveis enquanto protegem e restauram os ecossistemas. Nosso objetivo é replicar esse sucesso no Brasil,” disse Marina Grossi, presidente do CEBDS (Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável).

Um exemplo de uma companhia que registrou resultados positivos a partir do gerenciamento consciente dos escossistemas em que opera é a Mondi, maior companhia europeia de papel e celulose. A Mondi conduziu a ESR em três plantações de papel na África do Sul, em 2008. A ESR ressaltou estratégias que a companhia poderia implementar para aumentar o acesso à água doce, melhorando as bacias hidrográficas regionais, estreitando relações com a comunidade local e reduzindo custos operacionais.

Aproximadamente 300 empresas no mundo já implementaram a ESR, desde 2008. Conforme essa metodologia ganha força no Brasil, WRI, CEBDS e GVces promoverão assistência técnica e consultoria às empresas parceiras, com o objetivo de assegurar a qualidade e eficiência na aplicação da ESR.

Os parceiros também têm como objetivo criar uma rede de empresas ativas na gestão de serviços ecossistêmicos no Brasil, para comunicar resultados, contribuir com estudos de casos e intensificar as estratégias de sucesso. “Assim como a chegada do GHG Protocol há cinco anos, o lançamento da PESE hoje representa um passo adicional na gestão de serviços ecossistêmicos no ambiente empresarial brasileiro” explicou Mario Monzoni, coordenador do GVces.

O evento de lançamento da PESE aconteceu no dia 10 de maio de 2012, das 17h às 18h, no Jardim Botânico no Rio de Janeiro – RJ.

Para saber mais sobre a PESE, acesse o site http://insights.wri.org/pese

A realização da PESE é possibilitada pelo apoio generoso do povo norte-americano, por meio da Agência dos Estados Unidos para o Desenvolvimento Internacional (USAID). Seu conteúdo é de responsabilidade do WRI, GVces e CEBDS, e não reflete necessariamente a posição da USAID ou do Governo dos Estados Unidos.

Contact (in English)
World Resources Institute
James Anderson; Janderson@wri.org; +1 (202) 729 7600

Contato (em português)
GWA Comunicação Integrada
Kelly Souza; kelly.souza@gwacom.com; (11) 6620-2234

Contato (CEBDS)
In Press Porter Novelli
Tatiana Wolff; tatiana.wolff@inpresspni.com.br; (21) 3723-8095
Suzana Ribeiro; suzana.ribeiro@inpresspni.com.br; (21) 3723-8117

Corporate Leaders and NGOs Form New Partnership to Protect Ecosystems in Brazil

James Anderson — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:47:01 -0400

Read in English below OR Ver texto em Português

A group of leading companies and non-governmental organizations have embarked on a new partnership in Brazil today to incorporate ecosystem services into business strategies. The Parceria Empresarial pelos Serviços Ecossistêmicos (PESE), or Brazilian Business and Ecosystem Services Partnership, represents a major effort to demonstrate how biodiversity and ecosystem services can enhance corporate performance in Brazil, home of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) next month.

The goal is to develop strategies that align business performance to the sustainable management of ecosystems. Leading companies, such as Anglo American, Grupo André Maggi, PepsiCo, Vale, Votorantim and Wal-Mart, are among the first companies participating in this initiative. The partnership was organized by the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), the Center for Sustainability Studies at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (GVces), and the World Resources Institute, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Industry relies on ecosystem services, such as food production, clean water, a stable climate, protection from natural hazards, and more,” explained Craig Hanson, Director of the People and Ecosystems Program at WRI. “PESE will empower Brazilian companies to manage business risks and opportunities arising from their dependence and impacts on ecosystem services.”

The partnership will drive new business solutions to ecosystem degradation largely through local application of the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR), the leading assessment methodology developed by WRI in cooperation with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Meridian Institute. By applying the ESR, corporate partners will develop strategies to better compete and succeed in a world that is pushing against natural limits.

“Using the ESR, companies have been able to uncover new profitable strategies while protecting and restoring ecosystems. Our goal is to replicate these successes in Brazil,” said Marina Grossi, President of CEBDS.

One example of a company that has already experienced positive results from managing the ecosystems in which it operates is Mondi, Europe’s largest paper and pulp company. In 2008, Mondi conducted an ESR in three of its paper plantations in South Africa. The ESR highlighted strategies the company could implement to increase access to freshwater while improving regional watershed health, strengthening its relationship with local communities, and reducing operational costs.

An estimated 300 companies have already implemented the ESR worldwide since 2008. As this method gains traction in Brazil, WRI, CEBDS, and GVces will provide technical assistance and advice to corporate partners in order to enhance the quality and efficiency of applying the ESR.

The partners also aim to create a network of companies active in the management of ecosystem services in Brazil, in order to communicate results, contribute new case studies, and scale up successful strategies.

“As with the arrival of the GHG Protocol five years ago, the launch of PESE today represents another step towards sustainability for Brazilian business,” explained Mario Monzoni GVces coordinator.

Editor’s Note:

The PESE launch event will take place on May 10, 2012, from 5:00pm to 6:00pm at the Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro.

For more information, visit: http://insights.wri.org/pese

PESE is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of WRI, GVces, and CEBDS and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Contact (in English)
World Resources Institute James Anderson; Janderson@wri.org; +1 (202) 729 7600

Contato (em português)
GWA Comunicação Integrada Kelly Souza; kelly.souza@gwacom.com; (11) 6620-2234

Contato (CEBDS)
In Press Porter Novelli
Tatiana Wolff; tatiana.wolff@inpresspni.com.br; (21) 3723-8095
Suzana Ribeiro; suzana.ribeiro@inpresspni.com.br; (21) 3723-8117

Insights from the Field: Forests for Species and Habitat

Kevin Lustig — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:22:56 -0500

Summary

Market-based mechanisms focused on candidate species conservation, also known as pre-compliance conservation, can provide preemptive and cost-effective interventions prior to a species becoming listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
To advance candidate conservation incentive programs, the World Resources Institute (WRI) is working with its partners to build demand, supply, and transactional infrastructure through a pilot initiative in the nonfederally listed range of the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) in the southern forests of the United States.
This innovative approach strives to create a scalable, voluntary, and science-based marketplace where conservation credits can be bought and sold prior to the enactment of a regulatory requirement, resulting in additional acres of southeastern forests being managed for habitat and species conservation.
Through this pilot initiative, landowners with southern pine forests capable of supporting healthy populations of the imperiled gopher tortoise can receive payments to conserve and manage their forests. These payments and stewardship activities are designed to offset habitat disturbance elsewhere and may help preclude the species from becoming listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA.
A candidate conservation marketplace may allow federal and private project developers to manage their environmental risk by investing in conservation on private lands in return for regulatory certainty from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). This process can help these stakeholders avoid the potential for costly project development delays and litigation since it front-loads much of the ESA review process and gives entities greater regulatory certainty.
Interest in candidate conservation incentive programs is rapidly growing in the private, public, and nongovernmental organization sectors as changes in land use across the country spark new challenges in balancing ecosystem management with residential and commercial development, national security, energy infrastructure, and climate change.

Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-Based Products: Version 2

Ruth Nogueron — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:52:22 -0400

Find out more at http://www.sustainableforestprods.org

Version 2 contains updates to the sections on legality and useful resources, known as the "guide to the guides." The guide now describes 47 tools and resources (13 more than in the previous version) that aid sustainable procurement of forest products.

Decisions regarding the purchase and use of wood and paper-based products can have far-reaching, long-term impacts for the forests where they are harvested, the communities supported by wood-using industries, and the places where those products are purchased and used.

The information in this joint WRI/WBCSD publication is organized around ten key issues, posed as "essential questions" that procurement managers might address related to the sustainable procurement of wood and paper-based products:

Origin: Where do the products come from?
Information accuracy: Is information about the products credible?
Legality: Have the products been legally produced?
Sustainability: Have forests been sustainably managed?
Special places: Have special places, including sensitive ecosystems, been protected?
Climate change: Have climate issues been addressed?
Environmental protection: Have appropriate environmental controls been applied?
Recycled fiber: Has recycled fiber been used appropriately?
Other resources: Have other resources been used appropriately?
Local communities and indigenous peoples: Have the needs of local communities or indigenous peoples been addressed?

The publication is designed as an information tool to help customers develop their own sustainable procurement policies for wood and paper-based products. It is also a decision support tool providing simple and clear information on twenty-two existing approaches to the procurement of wood and paper-based products from legal and sustainable sources, as well as providing additional references and resource materials.

MEDIA ADVISORY: 4th Annual Ecosystem Markets Conference - Making Ecosystems Work

Lauren Zelin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:18:28 -0400

Experts and innovators meet to chart the future of ecosystem conservation

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the American Forest Foundation (AFF) co-host the 4th annual Ecosystem Markets Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, June 29 – July 1, 2011. Hundreds of experts, innovators, land owners, government officials, investors and academics will discuss how to make ecosystem markets work to conserve natural resources; followed by a field trip through Aldo Leopold’s backyard to see ecosystem services in action.

At a time when state and federal budgets for conservation are dwindling, ecosystems are being degraded and threats to natural resources are increasing, more market-driven solutions are necessary to open the next chapter in conservation. Through ecosystem markets, the many benefits that well-managed lands provide, such as clean water and wildlife habitat, are assigned a value that results in payments to landowners for providing these services. This win-win for the public and landowners is necessary to protect the planet’s natural resources.

The 2011 conference theme “Ecosystem Markets: Making Them Work” underscores the need for innovative thinking to bridge the gap between ecosystem market potential and reality. Participants will gather for two days of open-format meetings on topics including payments to landowners, policy and ethics, private investment, water quality, bioenergy, and more.

The conference will open with a video address by Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Senior representatives from the host organizations along with ecosystem services experts from around the world will participate in the conference and will be available for interviews.

What:
4th Annual Ecosystem Markets Conference. Website: http://ecomarketconference.com/

When:
June 29-30, 2011, conference sessions
July 1, 2011, field trip to working ecosystems and Aldo Leopold’s shack

Where:
The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club
1 W. Dayton Street, Madison, WI
(Free parking is provided for our conference group)

Media Highlights:

Wednesday, June 29, 2011
* 8:15 a.m. – Welcome and video address by Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture
* 8:35 a.m. – Plenary Session 1: The Current State of Ecosystem Markets
* 10:20 a.m. – Plenary Session 2: Policies to Support Ecosystem Services and Markets
* 12:40 p.m. – Lunch and preview of Green Fire documentary, hosted by the Aldo Leopold Foundation and followed by a Q&A session

Friday, July 1, 2011
* 8:00 a.m. – Field trip; See below for details. * Experts available for interviews during the tour

For the full conference agenda, visit http://ecomarketconference.com/agenda/.

RSVP and Media Requests:

Amanda Cooke | AFF | ACooke@forestfoundation.org | 202-463-2731
Lauren Cole | WRI | LCole@wri.org | 202-729-7736

Follow the Twitter conversation - #ecomarkets2011

Field Trip Information - PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

What:
Tour the Leopold family shack and farm, and see sites conserved for ecosystem services through public/private partnerships, including the Leopold Waterfowl Production Area, Baraboo Oak Street dam removal site, and the Leopold Memorial Reserve constructed wetland. Detailed agenda: http://ecomarketconference.com/field-trip/.

When:
July 1, 2011 from 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Where:
Meet at the Madison Concourse Hotel for bus departure.

Who:
Experts from WRI, AFF and other conference attendees will be available for interviews and photo opportunities during the Field Trip. Please contact Amanda Cooke or Lauren Cole to RSVP.

Thanks to the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Sand County Foundation for their generous assistance in hosting and organizing the field trip.

Climate Science Research Review Answers Climate Change Questions

Kevin Lustig — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:32:44 -0400

Update [10/17/2011]: WRI has released the latest edition of Climate Science. After you check out the resources below, take a look at our Q&A with the authors on WRI Insights or read the full report.

With wildfires, floods, tornadoes, and other dramatic weather events making front page news around the world, many people are asking questions about the signs and impacts of a changing climate. Climate Science is the World Resources Institute’s periodic review of the state of play of the science of climate change. With summaries and explanations of recent peer-reviewed research from a host of scientific journals, Climate Science is a window into what scientists are discovering about how climate change affects the living things and complex systems of our planet.

The latest edition, Climate Science 2009-2010 will be released later this year. In the meantime, we have assembled a preview of some of the research covered in the report. Take a look at our slideshow detailing the huge variety of impacts we are already seeing from warming global temperatures, including insights into sea-level rise, human migration, weather extremes, and the shrinking habitats of wildlife. Then, use our interactive map to learn more about the regional consequences of climate change around the United States.

Slideshow:

Climate change impacts around the world

» Explore all of WRI’s work on solutions to the climate challenge.

The Global Impacts of Climate Change

Use the arrows above to explore a preview of the research from WRI’s upcoming release of Climate Science 2009-2010 and a small selection of the changes facing our warming world.

WRI is working on solutions to the challenges illustrated in this slideshow. Click here to learn more about our work on climate and energy.

Photo Credit: flickr/NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Uneven global sea level rise

Researchers estimate a global sea level rise of approximately 3.26m resulting from the instantaneous melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Notably, they find that the impacts of the sea level rise would not be uniform around the globe. Because of perturbations in Earth’s rotation and shoreline migration, the impacts are predicted to be most pronounced on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States, where sea level rise could be 25% higher than the global mean.

Source(s): Bamber, J.L.; Riva, R.E.M.; Vermeersen, B.L.A.; and A.M. LeBrocq. (2009). Reassessment of the potential sea-level rise from a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science. 324 (901), doi: 10.1126/science.1169335

Photo Credit: flickr/NOAA Photo Library

Changing patterns for wildfires

Increases in both the frequency and extent of wildfire are salient examples of the effects of climate change that can have immediate and significant impacts on human communities. However, there is variation in this trend. Different regions of the world can expect increases or decreases in wildfire distribution from climate change, largely mediated by regionally-specific vegetation and precipitation changes. Notably, the increases in wildfire extent are projected to be in the United States and Canada, Europe and western China. Decreases in wildfire extent are predicted for parts of East Asia, Africa and Australia.

Source(s): Krawchuk MA; Moritz MA; Parisien M-A; Van Dorn J; and K. Hayhoe. (2009) Global Pyrogeography: the Current and Future Distribution of Wildfire. PLoS ONE 4(4): e5102. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005102.

Balshi, M.S.; McGuire, A.D.; Duffy, P.; Flannigan,M; Kicklighter, D.W.; and J. Melillo. (2009). Vulnerability of carbon storage in North American boreal forests to wildfires during the 21st century. Global Change Biology. 15: 1491-1510.

Flannigan, M.; Stocks, B.; Turetsky, M.; and M. Wotton. (2009). Impacts of climate change on fire activity and fire management in the circumboreal forest. Global Change Biology. 15: 549-560.

Photo Credit: flickr/slworking2

Growing unpredictability in India’s monsoons

A century’s worth of weather data show that summer monsoon rains are becoming less predictable. Agriculture and flood control in India have relied on the predictability of the monsoon over centuries to millennia. A reduction of the predictability of these events has profound implications for the region’s agriculture and communities’ ability to prepare for oncoming extreme events.

Source(s): Mani, N. J.; Suhas,E; and B. N. Goswami (2009), Can global warming make Indian monsoon weather less predictable? Geophysical Research Letters. 36, L08811, doi:10.1029/2009GL037989.

Photo Credit: flickr/Carlo_it

Extreme heat and the loss of land suitable for human habitation

Human metabolism cannot handle extremely high temperatures well, and a global temperature increase of 7°C, which is the upper limit of current projections, would make ~~large~~ some portions of the world uninhabitable. A global temperature increase of 12°C, which could occur solely from the combustion of all fossil fuel reserves, would render much of the globe uninhabitable by humans. In exploring this possibility, researchers point out that current economic models treat a 10°C rise in temperature as having an equivalent economic effect to a major recession, when it might actually render half the planet uninhabitable.

Source(s): Sherwood, SC and M Huber. (2010). An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107 (21): 9552-9555.

Photo Credit: flickr/coda

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching

As atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations rise, the concentration of dissolved CO₂ in the oceans has increased as a result, increasing the acidity of ocean water. Acidification can cause great harm to calcifying organisms, such as corals, as their calcium carbonate shells cannot form and, in some cases, dissolve. Research shows that the predicted impacts of ocean acidification are already occurring on the Great Barrier Reef, impacting the health of the reef ecosystem and the livelihoods that depend on such ecosystems.

Source(s): De’ath, G.;, Lough, J.M.; and K.E. Fabricius. (2009). Declining coral calcification on the Great Barrier Reef. Science. 323: 116-119.

Photo Credit: flickr/babasteve

Billions in losses for U.S. fishing industry

Researchers set out to assess the economic effects of ocean acidification using a simple model which links projected declines in mollusk populations from ocean acidification to projected declines in the U.S. commercial mollusk harvest. Using the 2007 harvest as a baseline, the authors calculated potential future losses under different emissions scenarios. Even a modest estimate of 10-25% aggregate decrease in U.S. mollusk harvests could cause anywhere from $1.7 billion to $10 billion in losses to the U.S. fishing industry by 2060.

Source(s): Cooley, S. and S. Doney. (2009). Anticipating ocean acidification’s economic consequences for commercial fisheries. Environmental Research Letters. 4: 024007.

Photo Credit: flickr/marbla123

A later start to a shorter rainy season in the dry Sahel

In the Sahel region of North Africa, climate-induced alterations of rainfall will have profound impacts on agriculture and the resilience and adaptability of human communities. Recent research demonstrates that, by the end of this century, under a mid-range warming scenario, the rainy season will start later by 3-4 days and have a shorter duration by 5 days in the Sahel. These delays and shortenings, while seemingly small, are likely to reduce anticipated crop yields with profound consequences for agricultural production in the region.

Source(s): Biasutti, M.; and A. H. Sobel (2009), Delayed Sahel rainfall and global seasonal cycle in a warmer climate, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L23707, doi:10.1029/2009GL041303.

Photo Credit: flickr/SOS Sahel UK

Reduced water supply from the Colorado River

The combined effects of warming temperatures on snowmelt, evaporation, and precipitation will likely have profound influences on river flows, which are critical for human consumption and irrigation of farmland. Researchers estimated the impacts that climate-change induced reductions in runoff from the Colorado River will have for humans’ future use of the river’s water. Their study predicts a 10-30% reduction in Colorado River run-off by 2050 because of anthropogenic climate change. This will result in significant and regular failure to meet scheduled water deliveries in the American Southwest.

Source(s): Barnett, Tim and David W. Pierce. (2009). Sustainable water deliveries from the Colorado River in a changing climate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (18): 7334-38.

Photo Credit: flickr/victorfe places

Hotter growing seasons and widespread crop loss

Researchers have assessed the impacts of increasing temperature on global food supply and found that in the tropics and sub-tropics, it is highly likely (greater than 90% probability) that the average growing season temperature during the last decades of the 21st century will exceed the most extreme temperatures experienced during the 20th century. In temperate regions, temperature extremes like those experienced during the 2003 heat wave in Europe will become the norm. Higher temperature alone will have significant negative effects on crop yields, even without the predicted impacts of associated drought.

Source(s): Battisti, D.; and R. Naylor. (2009). Historical warnings of future food insecurity with unprecedented seasonal heat. Science. 323:240-244.

Photo Credit: flickr/CIMMYT

More destructive hurricanes

Projecting hurricane activity over the rest of the 21st century, researchers found that the frequency of intense hurricanes (category 4 or 5) is likely to increase significantly. Their model projects an increase in the number of intense storms by 80% by the end of the 21st century. They attribute this change to warmer sea surface temperatures. While the overall frequency of hurricanes is likely to decrease, the model suggests that there is a pronounced increase in the frequency of powerful storms after 2070.

Source(s): Bender, MA, Knutson, TR, Tuleya, RE, Sirutis, JJ, Vecchi, GA, Garner, ST, and IM Held. (2010). Modeled impact of anthropogenic warming on the frequency of intense Atlantic hurricanes. Science. 327: 454.

Photo Credit: flickr/NOAA Photo Library

Widespread loss of lizard species around the world

While many reports about climate change focus on projected future impacts, one study set out to assess the impacts of warming temperatures that have already affected populations of lizards around the globe. Analyzing studies of 30 species of Mexican lizards from 1975-2009, they find that 12% of local populations of lizards have gone extinct. Based on the Mexican observations, they estimate that globally, 4% of lizard populations have become extinct since 1975 as a result of climate change. On the basis of the observed trends, the authors find that by 2080, 20% of global lizard species will be extinct.

Source(s): Sinervo, B, Mendez-de-la-Cruz, F, Miles, DB, et al. (2010). Erosion of lizard diversity by climate change and altered thermal niches. Science. 328: 894-899.

Photo Credit: flickr/NOAA Photo Library

Extreme temperature highs in the United States

Researchers project that over the next three decades extreme warm temperatures will increase significantly in the United States. Even when global average temperatures do not rise more than 2°C, one study predicts that by 2030-2039, 38 days of the year will be in the top 5% of current temperature extremes, and that there may be at least seven record setting temperature days per year. Extremes in temperatures can have significant impacts on human health and lives, and reductions in soil moisture and precipitation will have implications for the viability of crops and ecosystems.

Source(s): Diffenbaugh, NS and M Ashfaq. (2010). Intensification of hot extremes in the United States. Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 37: L15701.

Photo Credit: flickr/yeppiyeebo

Cold winter extremes in Europe and other northern regions

Winter sea ice in the Barents and Kara Seas, portions of the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, has been greatly decreasing due to warming temperatures. This reduction in sea ice cover causes the lower troposphere, (the portion of the atmosphere close to the earth surface) to warm slightly because of the heat trapping ability of the open ocean. On study suggests that this warmer air may create a pressure and temperature gradient that sucks heat out of Europe, resulting in an anomalous continental cooling of -1.5°C (averaged across the continent) in the winter.

Source(s): Petoukhov, V and VA Semenov. (2010). A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents. Journal of Geophysical Research. VOL. 115 doi:10.1029/2009JD013568.

Photo Credit: flickr/neiljs

Major increases in human migration

Changes in land-use patterns and agricultural policies in Mexico and other Central American countries have already been leading to large numbers of migrants into the United States. Climate change is likely to augment this trend as it impacts crop yields in some of the hardest hit and poorest areas of southern Mexico. One study predicts an average of an additional 20,000-100,000 “climate-immigrants” per year over the next decades (assuming a linear rate of increase - Ed, 12/9/11).

Source(s): Feng, S, Krueger, AB, and M Oppenheimer. (2010). Linkages among climate change, crop yields, and Mexico-US cross-border migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Photo Credit: flickr/Ben Amstutz

Reduction and loss of major Asian sources of drinking water

One of the greatest concerns about the pace and magnitude of human-induced climate change impacts is the water security of the over one billion people in Asia, mostly in India and China, who live in river basins that are fed by Himalayan glaciers and snow. The flows from these water resources are essential to agricultural production and maintaining drinking water supplies. As temperature rises, there are concerns about the long-term stability of these flows. Research has determined that the Indus and the Brahmaputra are most susceptible to climate-induced changes in snow-melt water flow.

Source(s): Immerzeel, WW, van Beek, LPH, and MFP Bierkens. (2010). Climate change will affect the Asian water towers. Science. 328: 1382-1385.

Photo Credit: flickr/reurinkjan

Short-term loss of cloud cover

The sensitivity of the Earth’s climate system to changes in cloud coverage is one of the key uncertainties of the impacts of a changing climate. With a warmer climate, will there be more clouds that reflect more sunlight and thus induce a negative feedback, cooling the earth’s surface, or will there be fewer clouds, and thus a warmer world as more solar radiation hits the earth’s surface? A recent study analyzes data from 2000-2010. Over this time frame, it finds that there appears to be a positive feedback, meaning that warming-induced decreases in cloud coverage has led to more incoming solar radiation, which in turn increases warming.

Source(s): Dessler, AE. (2010). A determination of the cloud feedback from climate variations over the past decade. Science. 330: 1523-1527.

Photo Credit: flickr/Kevin Dooley

Threat of near extinction for Emperor penguin population

Using climate models and observations of Emperor penguin populations over forty three years, researchers found that populations are projected to decline, with the probability of ‘quasi extinction’ (greater than 95% decline) by 2100 at 36%. The impact of early sea ice break up on breeding could have direct effects on penguins’ population growth. Reduced sea ice will likely have indirect impacts on the food web by reducing krill, the primary food source for the fish that penguins eat.

Source(s): Jenouvrier, S.; Caswell, H.; Barbaud, C.; Holland, M.; Stroeve, J.; and H. Weimerskirch. (2009). Demographic models and IPCC climate projections predict the decline of an emperor penguin population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (6): 1844-47.

Photo Credit: flickr/Martha de Jong-Lantink

Faster glacial melting due to black carbon

Black carbon, or soot produced from biomass and fossil fuel burning, can alter surface reflectivity, making surfaces darker and warmer, much like a dark shirt on a summer day. Researchers have found that levels of black carbon on Tibetan glaciers are high enough to decrease their surface reflectivity by 10 to 100%. Tibetan glaciers represent the largest stores of freshwater on the planet outside of the polar ice caps. As these glaciers melt rapidly and meltwater seasonality is altered, heavier spring floods and longer dry periods are anticipated throughout East and South Asia.

Source(s): Xu, B.; Cao, J.; Hansen, J.; Yao, T.; Joswia, D.; Wang, N.; Wu, G.; Wang, M.; Zhao, H.; Yang, W.; Liu, X.; and J. He. (2009). Black soot and the survival of Tibetan glaciers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (52): 22114-18.

Photo Credit: NASA

Additional sea level rise in the northeast U.S.

There is a difference in the elevation of the sea level near the U.S. coast, with sea levels lower near the coast than further off shore. This “slope” of sea level is a result of a system of robust ocean currents. According to one study, ice melt and precipitation in the Arctic, combined with increased temperatures, are predicted to slow down these currents and eliminate the difference in sea level height. This will increase coastal sea levels an estimated 0.2-0.3m for Boston, New York and Washington, DC by the end of the century in addition to sea level rise from other causes.

Source(s): Yin, J.; Schlesinger, M.E.; and R.J. Stouffer. (2009). Model projections of rapid sea-level rise on the northeast coast of the United States. Nature Geoscience. Doi: 10.1038/NGEO46.

Photo Credit: flickr/InAweofGod’sCreation

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Related Information

New Map Viewer Shows Development in the Forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Susan Minnemeyer — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:11:50 -0400

WRI and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Tourism (MECNT) are pleased to announce the release of the interactive map viewer for the Forest Atlas of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

En Français

The Government of DRC faces many challenges in developing comprehensive forest management and zoning processes, as well as the day-to-day monitoring of forest-based activities such as logging, mining and agriculture. In 2006, MECNT partnered with WRI to develop the Interactive Forest Atlas as a freely and publicly available resource. The interactive map viewer provides a way to explore the Atlas in detail online.

Interactive Map

Explore our interactive map viewer to examine in detail logging concessions, protected areas, and forest change in the Democratic Republic of Congo (in both English and French).

Covering two-thirds of the country’s territory, the forests of the DRC are home to a wealth of biodiversity and serve as one of the planet’s major forest carbon sinks. These forests also support the livelihoods of tens of millions of Congolese citizens, including many of the poor.

The map viewer features data on roads, logging and mining concessions, protected areas and detailed forest change. Map layers are arranged into a menu of options that allow users to view the information by themes such as forest zoning, timber production, mining and forest cover change.

MECNT and WRI collaborated to produce the map layers on forest development, while forest change data was provided by the project Forêts d’Afrique Centrale Evaluées par Télédétection (FACET), an initiative of the Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC), South Dakota State University (SDSU), the University of Maryland (UMD) with support from USAID’s Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE). The FACET data can also be viewed on the UMD CARPE Mapper website.

Users can click on forest concessions or protected areas for further information. The transparency of map layers is adjustable to view the base map data underneath; for example, logging concessions may be made transparent to view logging roads visible on satellite imagery beneath them. Any of the map themes can also be viewed in Google Earth, and GIS datasets used in the map are available for download.

For users with online connectivity, this interactive map viewer is a simplified and easy-to-use version of the more exhaustive information found in the Interactive Forest Atlas of DRC - version 1.0, CD and overview report.

The interactive map shows FACET forest change data from 2000 to 2010 for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Easier access to current forest land allocation in the DRC will help the government improve land use planning, monitoring, and resolution of conflicts over resources in areas of overlapping claims. It will also help local NGOs and communities understand government actions and defend their access rights.

The DRC Forest Atlas map viewer is the first in a series of interactive maps focusing on forest developments and change. Over the coming months, additional map viewers will be available for other central African countries and Indonesia.

The map viewer was developed with the generous support of USAID CARPE, the MacArthur Foundation, ESRI and ERDAS.

Développement d’un nouvel outil de visualisation cartographique pour les Forêts de la République Démocratique du Congo

WRI et le Ministère de l’Environnement, Conservation de la Nature et Tourisme (MECNT) de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), ont le plaisir d’annoncer la sortie de l’outil de visualisation de la carte interactive de l’Atlas Forestier de la République Démocratique du Congo.

Carte interactive

Explorez notre carte interactive pour observer en détail les concessions forestières, les aires protégées et l’évolution du couvert forestier en République Démocratique du Congo (en Français et Anglais).

Recouvrant les deux tiers du territoire du pays, les forêts de la RDC abritent une riche biodiversité et fait office d’un des plus grands puits de carbone forestier de la planète. Ces forêts assurent également les moyens de subsistance de dizaines de millions de citoyens congolais, y compris les plus pauvres d’entre eux.

Le Gouvernement de la RDC relève de nombreux défis quant au développement de la gestion forestière globale et du processus de zonage, ainsi que du suivi au jour le jour des activités telles que l’exploitation forestière, minière et l’agriculture. En 2006, le MECNT a établi un partenariat avec WRI pour développer l’Atlas Forestier interactif en tant que ressource disponible librement et publiquement. La visualisation cartographique interactive permet d’explorer en détail l’Atlas en ligne.

L’outil de visualisation de cartes présente des données sur les routes, sur les concessions forestières et minières, les zones protégées et le détail de l’évolution forestière. Les couches cartographiques sont disposées dans un menu d’options qui permet aux utilisateurs d’afficher les informations par thèmes tels que le zonage forestier, la production de bois, les mines et l’évolution du couvert forestier.

Le MECNT et le WRI ont collaboré pour produire les couches de la carte du développement forestier, tandis que les données sur l’évolution forestière ont été fournies par le projet Forêts d’Afrique Centrale Evaluées par Télédétection (FACET), une initiative de l’Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC), l’Université d’État du Dakota du Sud (SDSU), l’Université de Maryland (UMD) avec l’appui de l’USAID via le Programme régional pour l’environnement en Afrique centrale (CARPE). Les données FACET peuvent également être consulté sur le site Internet cartographique de l’UMD CARPE.

Les observateurs de la carte peuvent cliquer sur les concessions forestières ou sur les zones protégées pour de plus amples renseignements et peuvent choisir entre différentes options telles que l’affichage en fond d’images satellites récentes ou une carte routière. La transparence des couches de la carte peut être facilement ajustée pour afficher les données cartographiques de base en dessous, par exemple, les concessions d’exploitation forestière peuvent être rendues transparentes pour afficher les chemins d’exploitation visible sur les images satellite. Tous les thèmes de la carte peuvent être visualisés sur Google Earth à l’aide d’un simple clic bouton. Nous avons également mis à disposition en téléchargement l’ensemble des données SIG utilisées dans la carte.

Pour les utilisateurs connectés en ligne, cette carte interactive est une version simplifiée et facile d’utilisation de l’information exhaustive de l’Atlas Forestier interactif de la RDC - la version 1.0, CD-Rom et rapport de synthèse.

Un accès simplifié à l’attribution en cours des terrains forestiers en RDC aidera le gouvernement à améliorer l’aménagement du territoire, le suivi et la résolution des conflits sur les ressources dans les zones de chevauchement des revendications. Il aidera également les ONG locales et les communautés à comprendre les actions du gouvernement et de défendre leurs droits d’accès.

L’outil de visualisation de l’Atlas Forestier interactif est le premier du genre à mettre l’accent sur le développement et l’évolution forestière. Au cours des prochains mois, d’autres visionneurs cartographique en ligne seront disponibles pour d’autres pays d’Afrique centrale et l’Indonésie.

L’outil de visualisation cartographique a été développé avec le soutien généreux de l’USAID-CARPE, la Fondation MacArthur, ESRI et ERDAS.

Generous support for these projects has been provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Investing in Nature, for People’s Sake

Janet Ranganathan — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:06:25 -0500

Ecosystem services provide the link between nature and economic development. How can this approach guide more sustainable decisions?

The following has been adapted from Janet Ranganathan’s speech at the opening plenary of the ACES (A Community on Ecosystem Services) Conference at Gila River Indian Community, AZ on December 7, 2010.

Ecosystem services is still jostling to find its place in the crowded landscape of conceptual frameworks that seek to define sustainable development. Many, particularly international policymakers, conflate ecosystem services with payments or markets for ecosystem services. While payments and markets have their place, the real power of ecosystem services lies in its ability to provide an overarching framework for both ecosystems and economic development. In systematically making these links, an ecosystem services framing can inform decisions that are more likely to be sustainable for people and nature. Here are three broad applications:

1. Making the case for investing in ecosystems

Society has traditionally focused on how economic development impacts ecosystems. An ecosystem services framing enables decision-makers to understand how economic development goals depend on ecosystems – more specifically, on the 24 ecosystem services identified by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. In other words, it expands the focus from how to protect nature from economic development to how to invest in nature for development.

Decision-makers may not make the link between ecosystems and their economic development goals or they may take for granted the ecosystem services on which they depend. This is especially true for the less visible regulating ecosystem services that control natural processes such as climate, erosion, water flows, and natural hazards such as shoreline protection. (I am using “regulating” in this context to describe a biological phenomenon, not government policies or regulations.)

For example, the World Resources Institute and our partners in Belize conservatively estimated the value of coral reef and mangrove ecosystem services. We found that reef-driven tourism alone contributed 12 to 15 percent of Belize’s GDP. Their shoreline protection services were equivalent to another 20 percent of GDP in avoided damages. Our finding that ecosystem services underpinned a significant portion of the Belize’s GDP led the Prime Minister to approve new fishing restrictions. Furthermore, when the cargo ship Westerhaven ran aground on the Belize reef in January 2009, the government sued for damage. The suit was premised on the forgone economic contribution of the damaged reef’s ecosystem services to GDP. The ecosystem services damage suit was a first for Belize. In a landmark decision, the Belizean Supreme Court ruled in April 2010 that the ship’s owners must pay the government an unprecedented US$6 million in damages.

2. Improving management of trade-offs

Decision makers often unwittingly make ecosystem services trade-offs. When a farmer drains a wetland to increase crops, he decreases the water filtration and flood control services. The ecosystem services framing provides a systematic approach for identifying these kinds of tradeoffs and reaching agreements with all parties on how to best manage them.

In the 1990’s BC Hydro, a hydroelectric utility in British Columbia, found itself at odds with regulators and others who relied on the waterways for fishing, recreation, spiritual and cultural values, and as a source of freshwater. In response to growing tensions among users, BC Hydro launched a participatory water-use planning process to agree the operating parameters of its dam. The planning process was organized around ecosystem services even though they were not referred to in this way. A series of model-generated scenarios were developed to illustrate how each user of the ecosystem would be affected as the company altered two operating variables: reservoir level and river flow rate. One scenario might yield more power generation but fewer recreational opportunities and fewer fish. Another might yield the opposite. After several iterations of the model, the participants finally agreed on an option they could all accept. It became the operating plan for the dam, one that provided operational clarity and regulatory certainty. And it enabled BC Hydro to transcend the traditional regulatory silos that focus on single ecosystem services to forge an agreement on how to optimize multiple services.

3. Aligning policies and incentives to sustain ecosystem services

Traditionally ecosystems and their services have been carved up in separate academic disciplines (e.g., schools of agriculture, biology, fisheries and forestry), separate government agencies (e.g., Department of Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation) and separate laws and policies (Farm Bill, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act). The resulting silos of information, institutions, and policies and incentives hinder our ability to manage ecosystems whose services transcend political and regulatory boundaries.

An ecosystem services framing helps us see beyond these silos by identifying the ecosystem services dependencies and impacts of a given action or goal. It also provides a framework to think more systematically about the range of policies, incentives, institutions, and coordination mechanisms needed to sustain these services. These go beyond the often-cited payments for ecosystem services or economic valuation to include best management practices, land use zoning, establishment of areas to protect specific ecosystem services, and limits on practices that degrade services. Also important are markets and fiscal incentives—payments, taxes, subsidies and fees – that encourage actions that sustain ecosystem services.

The Future of Ecosystem Services

Let me end by highlighting where I think the action on ecosystem services may be in the years ahead.

Climate adaptation planning. An ecosystem services approach can bring rigor to climate adaptation planning. The physical impacts of climate change manifest themselves through alterations to the quantity, quality and timing of ecosystem services.
Strengthening the science-policy interface. The creation of a new Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) - the so called “IPCC for Nature” will improve the links between emerging scientific knowledge and policy action at the appropriate scales.
Integrating ecosystem services into existing decision support tools and regulatory/policies. Examples include: ISO 14001, Environmental Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessments, national economic indicators and NEPA analysis.
Restoration. In the last 50 years humans have degraded the majority of ecosystem services globally. Efforts to restore ecosystems have been limited and typically focus on restoring habitats for endangered species. An ecosystem service framing can help make the case for scaled up restoration of ecosystems to provide critical ecosystem services for people, while preserving the underlying biodiversity on which all ecosystem services depend.
Reconciling the tension between the biodiversity and ecosystem services focused communities. Biodiversity underpins ecosystem services. Both focuses are essential. They serve different audiences and objectives and must continue to play a critical role in influencing ecosystem management decisions.

The majority of ecosystem services are in decline around the globe. Demand for them is growing. We can no longer take their availability for granted. We need to urgently integrate considerations of ecosystem health in a systematic manner into the myriad of public and private decisions that depend upon or affect them. Ecosystem services provide an overarching framework for reconciling development and nature, and sustaining both. And in doing so, it helps us make a quantum leap forward on pursuing the elusive goal of sustainable development.

Southern Forests for the Future

Maggie Barron — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:15:07 -0500

Additional information and resources are available at www.SeeSouthernForests.org, an online interactive information portal developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

Executive Summary

Stretching from Texas across to Virginia and from Kentucky down to Florida, the forests of the southern United States are a vast global, national, and local natural treasure. They provide a variety of benefits or “ecosystem services.”

For instance, southern forests yield 18 percent of the world’s pulpwood for paper while comprising just two percent of the world’s forest area. They protect water quality, prevent erosion, and help regulate climate by storing carbon dioxide—the leading greenhouse gas. In addition, they provide opportunities for millions of people to hike, hunt, and experience natural beauty.

Southern forests are dynamic and have a long history of change. Prior to European colonization, these forests were shaped by natural disturbances such as climatic warming after the last ice age, hurricanes, and lightning-induced fires, as well as by fires set by Native Americans. Beginning in the 1600s, agriculture, timber extraction, and settlements built by Europeans and their descendants gradually spread across the region, affecting the extent, distribution, and composition of southern forests. Over four centuries, more than 99 percent of southern forest acreage was cut or cleared at one time or another as the region was developed. Much of the land regenerated over time as secondary forest, demonstrating the resiliency of forests. Yet the net extent of southern forests has declined by an estimated 40 percent since the dawn of European settlement.

A number of factors or “drivers of change” are projected to affect the quantity (extent and distribution) and quality (composition and health) of southern forests over the coming 2–3 decades, with some increasing and others decreasing forest quantity or quality. For example:

Suburban residential and commercial development is projected to convert 19 million acres of forest between 2020 and 2040 and increase forest fragmentation.
In some areas of the South, forest extent may expand as agricultural land reverts back into forest, but this trend will not sufficiently offset forest loss due to development.
Climate change may have a number of impacts, including shifting the distribution of some plant and animal species, increasing invasive species threats, inundating low-lying coastal forests, intensifying droughts, and exacerbating wildfire dangers.
Wildfires remain a risk as a consequence of decades of suppressing natural, low-intensity fires.
Outbreaks of pests and pathogens—such as the gypsy moth, hemlock woolly adelgid, sirex wood wasp, butternut canker, emerald ash borer, laurel wilt of redbay, and many more—will affect numerous types of trees—such as oak, hemlock, pine, butternut, and ash—and may alter forest species composition.
Invasive species—such as cogon grass and Japanese stiltgrass— threaten to crowd out native species, alter natural ecosystem processes, and increase wildfire risk.

Going forward, these drivers of change will likely impact the ability of southern forests to continue to provide a full range of ecosystem services. How landowners, businesses, conservation organizations, governments, and citizens respond and adapt to these and other drivers ultimately will shape southern forests for the future.

Approximately 87 percent of southern forest acreage is privately owned. Of this amount, about two-thirds is held by individuals and families. The future of southern forests thus rests largely in the hands of private landowners. Given the entailed forgone revenue, creating protected areas out of their forests may not be a viable option for many of these landowners. However, a number of measures exist or are beginning to emerge that could create incentives for private forest owners to conserve and sustainably manage their forests. These measures include:

Land use instruments such as conservation easements, development offsets, and transferable development rights;
Fiscal measures such as forest management-related and conservation-related cost-share programs and incentives;
Liability limitations such as legal assurances and the “right to prescribed burns”;
Market incentives such as markets for sustainably harvested timber and paper, payments for carbon sequestration, payments for watershed protection, and recreational user fees; and
Increased education and capacity building.

However, so far the performance of many of these measures has been mixed. For instance:

Despite being already available, some of these measures are currently undersubscribed in the region; Awareness of some measures is low;
Some of the market incentives, especially payments for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and watershed protection, are just emerging and therefore are relatively novel for most forest owners;
The region lacks a sufficient number of pilot projects utilizing these incentives to raise awareness, stimulate adoption, and facilitate continuous improvement of incentive design; and
Some measures, such as voluntary development offsets or transferable development rights, have been piloted in a few locations but have yet to be scaled up.

These observations lead to a number of questions, including:

Which of these incentives and measures show the greatest promise for sustaining southern forests and their ecosystem services?
What are the barriers southern forest owners face that limit utilization of these measures? How can these barriers be addressed?
How can emerging incentives be piloted in the region to demonstrate effectiveness and refine incentive design?
How can incentives that have successfully been piloted in a few instances in the region be scaled up?
What other innovative incentives for sustaining forest ecosystem services are being pioneered elsewhere that could be replicated in the South?
How can awareness of these incentives and outreach be improved?

Southern Forests for the Future sets the stage for addressing these and related questions by introducing readers to the forests of the southern United States. It provides data, maps, and other forms of information about southern forests, their condition, and trends. In particular, this publication:

Maps many of the natural features of southern forests, including extent and species composition;
Describes and, where possible, quantifies a range of ecosystem services that these forests provide to people, communities, and businesses at the local, regional, and global levels;
Provides a brief history of southern forests and the forces that shaped them;
Profiles the factors that will likely affect southern forest extent, distribution, composition, and health over the coming decades; and
Outlines a number of markets, incentives, and practices that might help ensure southern forests continue to provide a full range of ecosystem services into the future. Although public policies have an important role to play in sustaining southern forests, this publication focuses on non-policy measures.

Southern Forests for the Future is designed to serve as a resource for conservation organizations, concerned citizens, landowners, academic institutions, the private sector, government agencies, and others involved with forest stewardship. Additional information and resources are available at www.SeeSouthernForests.org, an online interactive information portal developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The site includes satellite imagery of southern forests, detailed interactive maps on forest features and drivers of change, case studies, historical photos, and other data. With this information publicly available, WRI aspires to raise awareness of the importance of these forests and help empower stakeholders to implement innovative measures that will ensure southern forests for the future.

Comparing the Economic and Social Value of Mangroves and Shrimp Farms

Maggie Barron — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:11:29 -0500

In the 1980s, Thailand’s government, initially supported by the World Bank, focused on a single ecosystem service—aquaculture—to supply a growing frozen shrimp export industry.

A retrospective analysis of the conversion of mangroves to shrimp farms demonstrated that this decision was economically beneficial only if the analysis was limited to the values of the shrimp harvest and the mangrove’s marketable forest products. When the analysis was extended to cover the value of several nonmarketed ecosystem services, including coastline protection and a nursery for wild fish, maintaining intact mangroves became the sound economic development choice.

Stopping the Resource Wars in Africa

Peter Veit — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:54:00 -0400

Two upcoming Senate bills could have a big impact on the Democratic Republic of Congo, by exposing how its 10-year conflict is being funded.

Since 1998, fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has killed an estimated 5.4 million people and resulted in some of the most horrific sexual violence the world has ever seen. Almost a million internally-displaced people are still unable to return safely to their areas of origin. Despite the nine-year presence of the world’s largest United Nations peacekeeping operation, the Mission de l’Organisation des Nations-Unies au Congo (MONUC)—18,422 personnel in 2008 at an annual cost of $1.2 billion—rebel forces continue to terrorize innocent citizens in this large central African nation, creating a dire humanitarian crisis that rivals the tragedies in Darfur and Myanmar.

The armed groups in eastern DRC are funded by the region’s abundant natural resources, especially from the extraction of tin, tantalum, and tungsten used to make laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, iPods, and video recorders. As a result, U.S. and international electronic companies—and the consumers who purchase their products—are funding this war.

Two-thirds of the people living below the poverty line reside in nations rich with extractive resources. Yet they rarely receive any meaningful benefits from their country’s resource wealth.

Two bills are now in Congress—the Congo Conflict Minerals Act and the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act. These two bills would require companies listed on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose new information in their financial reporting and help ensure that such minerals do not support the conflict.

The Congo Conflict Minerals Act, introduced by Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), would require SEC-listed electronic companies, such as Apple, Nokia, and Nintendo, to disclose the exact location of the mines from which they receive their tin, tantalum, and tungsten in their regular reporting. By noting the source of their minerals, consumers will know whether the electronics they are buying are funding illegal armed groups in the DRC. As evident from the effective embargo on conflict timber from Liberia and blood diamonds from Sierra Leone, many U.S. and European consumers are sensitive to breaking the link between natural resources and conflict. Many U.S. and international companies are also concerned about their reputation and the financial risks associated with not being listed on the SEC (the SEC is a principal source of company information to potential investors).

Ending the conflict in DRC—often called “Africa’s World War” because the armies of nearly a dozen other African states have been drawn into the fighting—is a long-standing and high-priority U.S. policy objective. In October 2006, then-President George Bush argued that the conflict constitutes “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to our foreign policy and declared a national emergency. He issued an executive order to block the property of people and institutions contributing to the conflict in the DRC, including those who “have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support.” President Barack Obama’s administration has also made it clear that stopping the war in Congo a top priority of U.S. policy on Africa.

In addition to advancing U.S. interests, the Congo Conflict Minerals Act would contribute to the effective implementation of U.N. Resolution 1856. In December 2008, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1856—the latest in a series of resolutions on the DRC conflict—which links the “illicit trade in natural resources” with the “proliferation and trafficking of arms,” and places an embargo on illegally-exploited natural resources. It calls for the U.N. to heighten security around the mines and authorizes the peacekeeping forces to “seize or collect, as appropriate, the arms and any related material whose presence in the territory of the DRC” contributes to the conflict, including illegally-mined natural resources. Resolution 1856 also urged all countries to take appropriate steps to end the illicit trade in natural resources in the region.

The Congo Conflict Minerals Act is the most recent initiative out of Congress to break the link between natural resources and conflict. While the Act focuses on sourcing three minerals extracted from eastern DRC, another bill awaits action in Congress—the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act—which would have broader implications for the effective use of natural resource revenues around the world.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act was introduced by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) in the summer of 2008. It was co-sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Tom Harkin (D-IA)and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). The bill was referred to the Committee on Urban, Banking, and Housing Affairs, but never discussed on the floor. It is, however, expected to be reintroduced shortly by the same sponsors.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act would require all SEC-listed companies to fully disclose the amount of money paid to foreign governments for oil, gas, and minerals—collectively called extractive resources—in their required financial statements. Around two-thirds of the people living below the poverty line reside in nations rich with extractive resources yet they rarely receive any meaningful benefits from their country’s resource wealth. This Act is an important step in ensuring sound revenue management, promoting effective reinvestments and fighting the corruption that contributes to the disjuncture between resource wealth and economic growth.

In July, President Obama traveled to Ghana for his first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa because the country is an outpost of democracy—a model for good governance. Ghana, a bipartisan American favorite, is also one of our most trusted partners in Africa. In a speech to the parliament, President Obama highlighted the critical role that sound governance and civil society plays in promoting lasting development. While Ghana is well-known for its gold (the country is Africa’s second largest gold producer), significant quantities of oil have recently been found offshore. Tullow Oil, an Irish company list on the SEC, holds several of the most promising deep water blocks (Tullow also holds several proven blocks in Uganda, another major U.S. ally in Africa). The Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act would help ensure that some of our close allies in the continent—Africa’s new petro-states—use their oil riches in ways that promote development, not civil unrest and conflict.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act enjoys broad support from U.S. development professionals. Critics, however, point out that full disclosure of payments made by extractive industries to foreign governments alone will not ensure extractive resource revenues are invested in ways that support poverty reduction. Other pundits argue that the most corrupt and non-democratic regimes—those which the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act is targeting—will simply partner with companies from China, India and elsewhere and would not be affected by the Act. In fact, nearly all internationally-competitive oil, gas and mining companies are registered with the SEC and subject to the same regulations as U.S. companies.

The Act would provide a powerful platform for U.S. development assistance to work with governments around the world to ensure revenues from natural resources contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. Indeed, the passing of these two bills should be complemented by targeted investments by the Agency for International Development, Millennium Challenge Corporation and other agencies delivering U.S. government development assistance. Based on recent research by WRI and our local partner organizations in Africa, such support should emphasize investments in two areas:

Help Governments Establish Fair Distribution Policies. The distribution of environmental benefits (and costs) is determined largely by public policies and government practices. U.S. development assistance can work with governments to develop extractive resource revenue management and distribution policies that create economic, political and other incentives in support of poverty reduction, a priority national policy objective in most developing countries. Too often, public policies favor affluent people and regions, enriching a few powerful political and economic elites while passing disproportionately large social and environmental costs on to the poor disenfranchised majority. Poverty reduction—especially for the poorest—can be greatly enhanced through policies that promote fair distribution of natural resource benefits. In high-inequity, high-poverty countries, equitable access and fair distribution can be more effective than economic growth alone in reducing poverty. Such reforms are most effective in poor countries, where natural resources dominate local economies and natural capital is particularly significant in determining the overall distribution of wealth. Even small changes in these policies can have a large effect on building the assets of the poor and reducing poverty.
Strengthen Democratic Institutions and Support Good Governance. While it is important to work with governments, especially government reformers, to establish fair environmental distribution policies, U.S. development assistance must also strengthen other centers of power which can press for such reforms and check the authority of the executive branch. Among these other power centers are the legislature, civil society organizations and citizens. In many countries, even in those that have embraced multi-party politics and hold regular elections, policy reform processes remain closed and tightly controlled by a small circle of political elites. Small wonder that many public policies do not reflect the interest of the electoral majority—the rural poor. Strengthening the legislature and civil society organizations supports the democratic principal of separation of power, and promotes oversight and accountability. Working with the popular media to educate the public on policy processes can engage citizens in government matters. Accountability requires information on institutional performance, and the power to sanction poor decisions and discipline behavior. U.S. assistance can support performance monitoring and help these actors exercise their constitutional authorities and informal powers to press government on matters regarding the management of extractive resource revenues.

It is time for the U.S. to advance its national interests and support development around the world by passing both the Congo Conflict Minerals Act and the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act.

Darwin's Lessons for the Extractive Industry

Kirk Herbertson — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:04:31 -0400

Environmental and social performance is shaping a new breed of oil, gas, and mining companies.

This week, shareholders at Chevron’s annual meeting in California will vote on a resolution urging management to assess the company’s compliance with the environmental laws of every country in which it operates. The vote has been triggered by pension fund investors anxious over the oil giant’s liabilities in an environmental disaster dubbed the “Amazon Chernobyl.” (Update: Shareholders rejected the resolution on Wednesday, May 27. Read more here.)

Chevron inherited a lawsuit for ecological damages and human health impacts caused by massive oil spills in the species-rich rainforests of eastern Ecuador when it bought the company responsible, Texaco, in 2001. An Ecuadorean court judgment is due later this year, with Chevron facing damages that may dwarf the $3.9 billion paid by ExxonMobil for the infamous 1989 Alaskan oil spill.

The lesson in all this is one that is being learned not only by Chevron, but by the broader extractive industry: in our modern world of instant communications, Darwin’s theory of evolution applies not only to animals and plants, but also to companies.

A Survival Road Map for Extractive Industries

WRI’s 2009 report, Breaking Ground: Engaging Communities in Extractive and Infrastructure Projects recommends 7 principles to help companies adapt to the changing rules of natural resource extraction by more effectively involving communities in project decision-making:

Prepare communities before engaging.
Determine what level of engagement is needed.
Integrate community engagement into each phase of the project cycle.
Include traditionally excluded stakeholders.
Gain free, prior and informed consent.
Resolve community grievances through dialogue.
Promote participatory monitoring by local communities.

Read the full publication here.

Survival depends on being able to adapt to a changing environment. Oil, gas, and mineral reserves have been depleted, and the extractive industry increasingly competes for access to resources in remote corners of developing countries. In these new environments, companies face challenges that go well beyond engineering, including fragile ecosystems, impoverished communities, and weak local governance.

In earlier times, they might have been able to ignore such issues. But today, business-as-usual approaches will no longer suffice.

The world has become a global fish bowl. Modern information and communication technologies, combined with increasingly sophisticated and networked NGOs and local activists, subject companies to a level of scrutiny and accountability unimaginable even a decade ago. The voices of communities in the remotest corners of the globe can reach the ears of politicians and journalists worldwide in just a few hours. Campaigns have also grown in sophistication. Some NGOs directly support communities impacted on the ground. Others, like the BankTrack network in the Netherlands, focus on extractive companies’ financiers, campaigning against banks to remove harmful project financing lifelines.

Banks, in turn, are requiring their clients to demonstrate stronger environmental and social commitments. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private financing arm of the World Bank, has developed a set of “Performance Standards” that clients must meet before receiving financing. Other banks, such as the private financial institutions who have signed up to the Equator Principles, voluntarily commit to apply the IFC’s Performance Standards to their investments. John Ruggie, the UN Special Rapporteur on business and human rights, has explicitly recognized this new playing field, emphasizing the importance of the “court of public opinion“— regardless of what a developing country’s laws require.

On the frontline of extractive development, communities are increasingly intolerant of mining companies that sacrifice the environment for short-term economic benefits. In addition to the Chevron case, communities from the Peruvian Amazon have brought a lawsuit in California against Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), alleging that the company discharged oil wastewater into communities’ water sources, and Shell is facing a lawsuit in New York for its alleged human rights abuses in Nigeria in the 1990s. Both Ecuador and Peru have also seen massive social protests in the past year against controversial mining policies.

While a company like Chevron or Shell may survive a multi-billion dollar judgment, the reputational damage of legal settlements is increasingly likely to result in governments, banks, and communities hesitating to do business with such companies in the future. President Correa of Ecuador, for example, took a public stance against Chevron, and the company will almost certainly not be able to operate in the country for several decades.

In true Darwinian fashion, the most successful extractive companies are adapting to these forces of change, investing in improvements to their environmental and social management systems. Thriving in this new competitive environment, however, is not simply about corporate charity or token consultations with communities. It entails making environmental and social management, and respect for human rights, central to companies’ business model. Communities must be engaged at all stages of operations, from exploration through to restoration, and must have the opportunity to participate in key decisions.

Community consent, and the reputational benefits in the wider world that it brings, will likely be the prize of those companies that manage to ground their operations in a longer-term development process that is sustainable beyond the life of a project. Skills in effective community development may soon be an extractive company’s most competitive trait.

It may even make the difference between extinction and survival.