Natural Environment Blog

The Nature Conservancy is continuing to offer green gifts this year, with its Green Gift Guide. You may remember that it launched its Green Corporate Gift-Giving Center last year.

Included in this year’s gift guide are TNC’s “Top 5 Eco-Friendly Holiday Gifts”.

1. Adopt an Acre ($50 per acre)

   Help protect threatened habitats by adopting acres in critical locations around the world at only $50 per acre. Adopt an acre in one of the following places:

   • Africa’s Grasslands and Savannas
   • Austalia’s Gondwana Link
   • Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula
   • The Appalachians in the United States
   • Las Californias in the United States
   • Southern Coastal Plain Forests in the United States
   • Brazil Atlantic Forest
2. Plant a Tree in the Atlantic Forest ($1 per tree)

   One dollar plants one tree and helps support the Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.

   When you give Plant a Billion Trees as a gift, you can select the number of trees you plant and to help save paper, you can set up an e-card to announce your gift on any day you choose.

3. Adopt a Coral Reef

   The Adopt a Coral Reef program raises funds for important coral reef projects in the Dominican Republic, Palau and Papua New Guinea. The program provides critical funds for the permanent protection and restoration of these reefs.

   As some of the most biodiverse and wondrous places in the world, coral reefs need our immediate attention. If the present rate of destruction continues, 70% of the world’s coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 2050.

4. Help Save the Northern Jaguar.

   Deforestation and hunting have led to the decline of the northern jaguar. Your gift helps protect the habitat that northern jaguars need to survive and flourish.

5. Give Clean Water

   Every time a free-flowing river is altered, a lake is fouled by toxic runoff or a wetland is drained, the ability of freshwater systems to sustain life is disrupted and weakened. Your gift will help to finance conservation activities such as restoring riparian forest, setting up environmental education projects, installing equipment that tracks pollution and sedimentation rates in rivers and streams and giving families peace of mind that the water they drink is safe and clean.

So there you have it. The top 5 eco-friendly holiday gifts from The Nature Conservancy. Be sure to check out their other gifts at the Green Gift Guide.

The term ecosystem service refers to the many services that are supplied to us by natural ecosystems. 

More specifically, these services are ones that we value, and support our existence the way we know it.

Put another way:

Ecosystem services are the transformation of a set of natural assets (soil, plants and animals, air and water) into things that we value.

Another, well thought out, definition can be seen below.

Examples of Ecosystem Services

Here are some examples of ecosystem services (based on widely used definitions): 

• Purification of air and water
• Mitigation of droughts and floods
• Maintenance of soil fertility
• Maintenance of soil health
• Maintenance of healthy waterways
• Waste absorption and breakdown
• Pollination of crops and natural vegetation
• Dispersal of seeds
• Cycling and movement of nutrients
• Control of the vast majority of potential agricultural pests
• Maintenance of biodiversity
• Protection of coastal shores from erosion by waves
• Provision of shade and shelter
• Partial stabilization of climate
• Moderation of weather extremes and their impacts
• Provision of aesthetic beauty and intellectual stimulation that lift the human spirit

The Importance of Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are important services that we need if we are to continue life on Earth as we know it.

Unfortunately, to date, ecosystem services haven’t been properly recognized in economic markets, government policies and land management practices. Because of this, ecosystem services are highly vulnerable to degradation. 

If all the world’s ecosystems were to disappear, how would we recreate these services?

A Dollar Value for Ecosystem Services

One of the reasons ecosystems services have been undervalued is because of the difficulty in coming up with a dollar figure that accurately reflects the benefit of the services. Without being worth something in monetary terms, its highly unlikely that governments and other organizations are going to want to invest in ecosystem services.

There have been a number of attempts at valuating ecosystem services. Here are two examples:  

• Science magazine - a highly respected journal - estimated the value of replicating just the most readily quantifiable ecosystem services at $30-$40 trillion per year. This is about the equivalent of the total Gross Planetary Product.
• Canopy Capital - a company aiming to drive capital into rainforests - have said that it would take the equivalent of 50,000 times the daily energy output of the world’s largest hydropower station to evaporate the 20 billion tonnes of water coming off the Amazon each day. 

Measuring Ecosystem Services

One of the reasons it’s been so difficult in coming up with a dollar figure is because, there hasn’t been an effective way of measuring ecosystem services.

What exactly do you measure? And how do you measure it? If you were to walk down to the forest today, could you point at all the services and say how much of each service is there?

How do you judge nature’s value?

This issue is what Resources For the Future (RFF) has been working on for some years now. They sought to establish a definition that enabled more accountability of ecosystem services. Such a definition would help conservationists and governments define and manage ecosystem services. 

In 2006, following a workshop involving various environmental groups, RFF released a discussion paper which put forward the following definition for ecosystem services: 

Ecosystem services are components of nature, directly enjoyed, consumed, or used to yield human well-being

Using this definition, an ecosystem service would be restricted to the end product - rather than a process or function of the ecosystem. This is where it differs from other definitions, which tend to include processes and functions as a system.

For example, using the definition put forward by the RFF, water purification would not be an ecosystem service. Clean water would be.

As RFF put it, this definition aims at providing standardized environmental accounting units - it would provide a standardized way of counting nature’s benefits.

The Brazilian government has announced plans to slash deforestation in the Amazon region by 72 percent by 2017.

The announcement, made by Environment Minister Carlos Minc in Brasilia on Monday, comes three days after it was revealed that deforestation in the Amazon had increased in 2008 for the first time in 4 years. 

Part of the plan includes adding 3,000 more officers to fight illegal logging in the Amazon.

“This plan improves Brazil’s image, we’ll have more moral authority internationally,” Minc told reporters after announcing the plan.

The 72 percent figure comes from comparing against an annual deforestation average between 1996 and 2005. Minc says the plan would reduce deforestation by 72% when compared with the 7,330 square miles lost on average each year during that period.

Reduced Carbon Emissions

Brazil’s announcement came as this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference commenced in Poznań, Poland. 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva believes that the plan puts Brazil ahead of many other countries attending the conference.

“We will surely receive criticism, but we can say that we are presenting a better one than China or India, and better than others that still haven’t signed the Kyoto Protocol,” he said.

Minc shares the president’s view ”Just in terms of avoided deforestation in the Amazon, the plan foresees a reduction of 4.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide that won’t be emitted up to 2018, which is more than the reduction efforts fixed by all the rich countries,” he explained.

Reforestation

Brazil not only plans to reduce deforestation, but also plans to double the reforested areas to 11 million hectares by 2020.

“This means that by 2015 we will be planting more trees than cutting,” Minc said.

Brazil’s Forestry Service Welcomes the Plan

The Brazilian government’s forestry service welcomes the announcement.

“We can now adopt targets because we now have the instruments to implement them” said Tasso Azevedo, head of the forestry service.

The ‘instruments’ Azevedo refers to is the new Amazon fund established earlier this year.

The Amazon Fund

The Amazon Fund is a fund established to preserve millions of acres of the Amazon as quickly as possible. 

Through the fund, Brazil hopes to attract $21 billion in donations from rich countries to protect the Amazon.

Norway has already made a pledge of up to $1 billion to the fund. Norway’s contribution will be made by installments, each one being made on the condition that deforestation had reduced during the previous year.

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Prince’s Rainforest Project website. One of the main aims of that project is to make the world’s forests “more valuable alive than dead”.

To recap, this is what Prince Charles says this about how to save the rainforests:

It seems to me that the central issue in this whole debate is how we put a true value on standing rainforests to the world community – we simply have to find ways of putting a price on them which makes them more valuable alive than dead

Well, one company is attempting to do just that.

Canopy Capital, which was established in 2007, is a company that is attempting to drive capital into rainforests. 

They have already entered a partnership with Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) in Guyana in a deal that is believed to be the first of its kind.

How do They Valuate a Rainforest?

Canopy Capital believes that a rainforest should be valuated based on the services it provides.  Just as your gas company provides a service, a rainforest also provides a service.

More importantly, a rainforest can only provide these services while its alive.

What Services Does a Rainforest Provide?

Canopy Capital believes that the ecosystem services that rainforests provide us with, should not be taken for granted. The services that rainforests provide include:

• generate rainfall
• cool the atmosphere
• store carbon
• moderate weather conditions
• sustain biodiversity

These are services that we currently get for free, but perhaps we should be paying for them? If all the world’s rainforests were chopped down, how would these services then be provided?  

Canopy Capital say:

It would take the equivalent of 50,000 times the daily energy output of the world’s largest hydropower station to evaporate the 20 billion tonnes of water coming off the Amazon each day

“What’s the point of making a machine to capture carbon out of the atmosphere when rainforests do it for free? It’s cheaper to maintain that than to build a new one” says Andrew Mitchell, Director of the Global Canopy Program (GCP) and a partner in Canopy Capital.

Even Prince Charles shares this sentiment. He has described rainforests as “Giant global utilities providing an essential service to humanity on a vast scale”.

About paid rainforest services, Mitchell says “Paying communities and governments to maintain forests for us, like a global utility benefiting the world, will one day be as natural as paying for your electricity bill”.

International travel travel company, Abercrombie & Kent, have partnered with Australian based conservation organization, Rainforest Rescue, to help ensure that Australia’s ancient Daintree rainforest is protected forever.

Abercrombie & Kent (A&K), who specialize in luxury journeys across seven continents, is supporting Rainforest Rescue’s “Daintree Buyback and Protect Forever” project.

About the Project

This Daintree Buyback and Protect Forever project identifies, and purchases precious rainforest at risk of development and establishes nature refuge status which protects it forever under Queensland law. 

Since it started in 2000, the project has purchased and protected 10 properties in the Daintree, thanks to individuals’ donations and corporate support. These are properties that could otherwise have been purchased by a developer wanting to build.

About the Daintree

The Daintree rainforest is located in Tropical Far North Queensland Australia, just north of Cairns. The Daintree is among the most significant regional ecosystems in the world.

The Daintree contains the largest range of plants and animals anywhere on Earth. Unfortunately, it also contains the highest number of threatened species anywhere on Earth.

At more than 135 million years old, the Daintree rainforest is also among the oldest rainforests in the world.

Although the Daintree rainforest is a World Heritage Listed area, many parts are still not protected and are under theat from development. 

The Partnership

As part of the partnership, A&K will be encouraging its clients to visit the Daintree rainforest, to learn about the region, as well as to learn about this project. 

A&K, who are also involved with Friends of Conservation, see travel as a way of educating individuals in the diversity of culture and the untamed beauty of the natural world. 

“A&K has always believed passionately in adventures that both respect the natural environment and benefit indigenous peoples.  Our long held philosophy is governed in equal parts by this unswerving commitment to conservation whilst creating lasting travel experiences. It is this thinking that has lead to the establishment of A&K Philanthropy and the announcement of this initiative with Rainforest Rescue. We aim to make a difference whilst giving A&K travellers the most inspiring lifetime experiences.” says Jorie Butler Kent, Vice Chairman of Abercrombie & Kent Group, who is also founder of A&K Philanthropy. 

Rainforest Rescue Corporate Partnerships Manager, Lana Nancarrow said ”It’s great to have organisations like Abercrombie & Kent supporting us, as with many of our other corporate partners, they’re business philosophy is founded on a strong commitment to conserving our natural environment”.

Rainforest Resue has been in business for over 10 years now, and have been busy establishing a number of projects dedicated to conservation.  They are completely supported by donations from individuals, philanthropists, business sponsorship and foundation grants. They do not receive government funding.

Rainforests are some of the world’s most ancient and complex ecosystems. They barely cover 2% of the Earth, yet more than half of all plant and animal species live there. 

Despite covering such as small part of the Earth, rainforests continue to be destroyed every day. At the current rate of deforestation, we will only have 20% of the world’s forests left by 2030.

Saving the world’s rainforests from deforestation is not a small task (just ask the UK government!). Many environmentally conscience individuals and organizations around the world are devising new ways to protect our valuable rainforests. 

Click to Save the Rainforests

One new way of protecting rainforests comes in the form of “The Rainforest Site”. The Rainforest Site is a website that allows us all to do our bit for the rainforests. By using this site, you can help keep rainforests around the world alive.

And the great thing is, it doesn’t cost you any money. Not a cent. 

All you need to do is click a button on The Rainforest Website. When you click that button, The Rainforest Website gets money from their sponsors. They then pass this money to charity organizations who help preserve the rainforests. 

According to The Rainforest Site, more than 150 million visitors have preserved more than 40,500 acres of land to date.

How Does it Work?

When you click on the button, the website displays advertising from their sponsors. These sponsors actually pay The Rainforest Site so that their advertising can appear.

100% of the sponsors’ money goes to their charity partners, who fund programs to protect and preserve rainforest habitat.

So it would follow that, the more popular the site is, the more likely sponsors will want to advertise (i.e. more people are seeing their ads). 

Who are the Charity Partners?

When you click, the following organizations get money (from the website’s sponsors). These organizations then use the money to protect the world’s rainforests:

• The Nature Conservancy
• Rainforest Conservation Fund
• World Land Trust-US
• Rainforest2Reef

These organizations protect and preserve rainforest habitat in countries such as Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, the United States, Canada, the Pacific, and more.

Cool, I Want to Help! How do I do it? 

To help save the rainforests:

1. Open The Rainforest Site
2. Click on the button entitled “Click Here to Give - it’s FREE!”
3. Repeat each day 

That’s all!

By repeating each day, you’ll ensure that money is finding it’s way to these important organizations who help protect the world’s rainforests.

To Help You Remember…

To help you remember, you could set The Rainforest Site as your “home page” when you open up the browser. Most browsers let you do this through their “Options” dialog box. 

For example:

• In Firefox, go to “Tools > Options“
• In Internet Explorer, go to “Tools > Internet Options“
• In Safari, it’s under “Edit > Preferences“

World's longest insect - a 56.7cm stick insect. Photo by Natural History Museum in Britain.

The world’s longest insect has been discovered in the Borneo rainforests and handed to the Natural History Museum in London.

The insect, a stick-insect, measures 56.7cm long. 

New Species

Not only is the stick-insect the world’s longest insect, it’s also a newly discovered species. The insect has been named Phobaeticus chani or “Chan’s Megastick” in honor of Datuk Chan Chew Lun, who donated the specimen to the Museum.

The dead insect was initially found 10 years ago by a collector who had no idea that it was the longest insect ever discovered, or that it was a new species. It wasn’t until an entomologist, Datuk Chan Chew Lun, saw it in the collection that the significance of the insect was realized.

Longest Body

Even without its legs, Chan’s Megastick has a body that measures 35.7cm. This is a world record for the longest insect body. 

Previous Record Holders

The previous record holder for longest insect was another stick-insect called Phobaeticus serratipes. It could also be found in Malaysia, as well as parts of Indonesia.

The previous record for the longest insect body was 32.8cm long, held by the Phobaeticus kirbyi, also from Borneo.

‘We’ve known about both of the previous record holders for over a hundred years, so it is extraordinary that an even bigger species has only just been discovered,’ said Dr George Beccaloni, stick-insect expert at the Natural History Museum.

Unique Eggs

Size isn’t the only thing special about Chan’s Megastick. It’s eggs are thought to be unique in the insect world. According to the Museum, “Each egg capsule has wing-like extensions on either side like a miniature golden snitch, allowing them to drift in the wind when the female drops them, thereby helping the species to spread”.

Green groups have had a mixed reaction to a new report, commissioned by the British government, on how to deal with deforestation and its impact on climate change.

The Eliasch Review, entitled Climate Change: Financing Global Forests, provides a particular focus on the financial side of this issue. It has also been written in anticipation of a new climate change deal in Copenhagan in late, 2009.

A key recommendation of the report is for a multi-billion fund be set up to provide financial incentives to rainforest nations, so that their rainforests become more valuable alive than dead. 

The report also suggests that “an ambitious international climate change deal should aim to halve deforestation emissions by 2020 and make the forest sector carbon neutral by 2030″.

According to Greenpeace, this isn’t ambitious enough. 

“This report shows a dangerous lack of ambition and vastly underestimates the scale of the action needed to tackle climate change” says Andy Tait, Greenpeace head of biodiversity.

“The review assumes a target of 50% emissions cuts by 2050. This is simply inadequate. There is a strong possibility that the UK will be legally obliged to make an 80% reduction over this period, and all developed countries will need to hit and possibly exceed this target to effectively tackle climate change” he continued.

Note that Greenpeace have previously proposed their own solution for saving the world’s rainforests.

Tom Pickens, from Friends of the Earth was also concerned about the Eliasch Review. He said “This scheme has the potential to cause even greater conflict over forests”.

But not all environmental groups shared this sentiment.

WWF-UK say the review is “welcome recognition of the importance of reducing emissions through deforestation in a global agreement to tackle climate change”.

“Sufficient and long-term funding is needed to act as an incentive to protect forests. More than one billion of the world’s poorest people rely on forests for their livelihoods, so any measures to reduce emissions from deforestation must ensure that local communities enjoy continued access to, and benefits from, forests resources” said Emily Brickell, climate and forests officer for WWF-UK.

However, while WWF-UK praise the report for its recommendations, they still believe more could be done. In particular, they believe other sources of funding should be considered, such as the use of revenues from the auctioning of pollution permits under the EU emissions trading scheme.

View the Eliasch Review web page, or download the full report (large PDF document).

I recently wrote about the Prince’s Rainforest Project website - the website for Prince Charles’ Rainforest Project. As mentioned in that article, the main aim of the project is to make the rainforests “more valuable alive than dead”.

I just received the latest newsletter from the website announcing some of  the latest developments for the project.  One of these is that the project has now been added as a category in the Sony World Photography Awards for 2009. The project partnered with Sony Europe and the Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA) to create a new prize category for the awards - The Prince’s Rainforest Award.

The photography awards are one of the largest photographic events in the world today, so this will almost certainly raise the profile of The Prince’s Rainforest Project.

The awards have two categories - amateur and professional. The winner of the professional category will receive funding from Sony to photograph the rainforests of the world. A selection of the amateur category will have their photographs displayed in Cannes during the awards festival. The photos will also be used by the Prince’s Rainforest Project throughout the year.

The World Photography Festival runs in Cannes from the 14th – 19th of April. The theme for 2009’s festival is The Environment.

Submissions are now open, so if you’re interested in participating, check out the official SWPA website.