Untitled - Greenpeace

70
CARVING UP THE CONGO
2050. It is estimated that this will release a
total of between 31.1 and 34.4 billion tonnes
of CO 2
440
roughly equivalent to the UK’s CO 2
emissions over the last sixty years. 441
Given the pivotal role of the forest in terms of
climate change, it is deeply worrying that to
date no concrete steps have been taken to stop
degradation of the DRC’s forests through
logging and so help prevent this climate impact.
While there are provisions in the Forestry
Code 442 allowing for forests to be set aside to
generate state revenue from the environmental
services they provide, in the absence of
international political will to drive forward
comprehensive land use planning, these
provisions have not yet been acted upon.
Furthermore, to date natural forests (as distinct
from carbon sequestration from new
plantations) have not been taken into account
by existing market mechanisms that reward
storage of forest carbon for its contribution to
limiting climate change. For the moment, the
globally significant carbon storage service
provided by the DRC’s rainforests does not
bring the country any economic return, and
although the international community, including
the World Bank, pays lip service to this global
good, its programmes do not actively promote
protection of the rainforest from deforestation
or degradation. There is thus an ominous gap
between the acknowledged importance of this
key environmental service to the global
community and the focus of economic
assistance to the DRC.
If the DRC is to realise a future of genuine
development to the benefit of its people and
the environment, global climate protection,
rather than the short-term presence of
rapacious extractive industries which leave
little but destruction in their wake, should
surely be the channel through which the
rainforest is mobilised to bring overseas
investment to the country.
‘Curbing deforestation is a
highly cost-effective way of
reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and has the
potential to offer significant
reductions fairly quickly.’ 443
Stern Review, 2006