Protecting the Climate Forests: Why reducing tropical deforestation is in America’s vital national interest
The Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests – a bipartisan group of leaders from business, government, advocacy, conservation, global development, science and national security – released its report on October 7, 2009, calling on policymakers to make halving emissions from tropical deforestation by 2020 a cornerstone of the U.S. climate change response.
The report finds that unchecked tropical deforestation is a major threat to vital national interests; forest protections offer the most cost‐effective way to achieve fast, large‐scale reductions in CO2 emissions; and that U.S.‐led efforts to incentivize forest conservation, backed up by strong domestic policies to galvanize international action, would strengthen national security, reduce international instability, help alleviate global poverty, and conserve priceless biodiversity.
Reminding readers that tropical deforestation is responsible for 17 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, more than the entire global transportation sector, the report underscores the need to incorporate international action on deforestation into both U.S. and global climate solutions. The report, “Protecting the Climate Forests: Why reducing tropical deforestation is in America’s vital national interest,” presents a blueprint for U.S. leadership on arresting tropical deforestation in advance of the December UN climate talks in Copenhagen and further debate on climate legislation in the Senate.
The report notes that a well-designed cap-and-trade program would provide an effective mechanism for financing and implementing the Commission’s recommendations. Four of the Commission’s thirteen recommendations deal directly with how to reduce emissions from tropical forests through a cap-and-trade system. The report notes that while prospects for Senate approval of a national, economy-wide cap-and-trade bill are uncertain, U.S. leadership in stemming deforestation must not be.
Former Rhode Island Senator and Commission co-chair Lincoln Chafee said, “It is truly time for America to launch a comprehensive response to this manageable threat. Protecting the planet’s climate forests and fighting climate change can be the defining bipartisan issue of our time, but so far that bipartisanship has been largely absent. The Commission strongly urges our elected leaders to recognize the obligation we have and embrace this opportunity for collaboration. Time is running out, and our actions now will have implications for generations to come.”
