Vital Forest Graphics

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Which countries account for the largest area of protective forest plantations?

in helping to fight the global food crisis (WAC 2008). Efforts aimed at reforesting areas involve both big and small scale projects. An international group of musicians, music teachers and artisans have banded together to conserve pernambuco, a wood essential for the production of high quality bows for stringed instruments. The bow makers have collaborated with cacao farmers, scientists, landless people and government authorities to plant over 130 000 pernambuco seedlings on Brazil’s heavily deforested Atlantic Coast (IPCI 2008). Global partneship In 2003, the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration was launched to act as a catalyst for a network of diverse examples of forest landscape restora- tion that benefit local communities and nature. The partnership is a network of gov- ernments, organizations, communities and companies who together recognize the importance of forest landscape restoration and want to be part of a coordinated global effort. The Billion Tree Campaign launched by UNEP and the World Agroforestry Cent re in 2006 planted more than 2 billion trees in 18 months, and has reset its goal to 7 bil- lion trees planted. Further efforts such as these will be needed if the tide of glo- bal forest destruction is to be reversed.

RUSSIA

JAPAN

CHINA

MEXICO

KAZAKHSTAN

INDIA

VIETNAM

ALGERIA

SUDAN

THAILAND

Percentage

10 20 30

5 2 1

Source: FAO 2006c.

a relatively small percentage of the mar- ket (UNEP Riso Centre 2008). In addi- tion, a number of concerns exist about the science and sustainability of offset- ting carbon emissions through refores- tation and afforestation (e.g., Carbon Trade Watch 2007; Grist 2007). Forests also play an important role in adaptation to the effects of climate change. In 2008, India announced it would spend US$2.4 billion to restore six million hectares of degraded forests, not only to help absorb carbon emis- sions but also to stabilize shorelines and protect coastal human infrastructure in the face of rising sea levels (Sharma 2008). In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the most devas- tating natural disasters in recent history, the role of mangroves and other coastal forests in the mitigation of tsunami impacts became a focus of international attention. Coastal forests of all types, including mangroves, beach forests and plantations, were found to absorb part of the tsunami’s energy, hence reducing its impacts. At present mangrove-plant- ing projects are gaining momentum as a means of establishing or restoring natu- ral storm barriers and reducing disaster risks (UN ISDR 2008). Agroforestry and the planting of trees with crops can play an important role in biodiversity conservation and food secu- rity. To date, the UN World Food Pro- gramme has supported the planting of 60 million trees in 35 countries, a devel- opment likely to play an important part

In 1999, China launched the Grain for Green programme to promote recovery of vegetation cover, watershed manage- ment and poverty alleviation through a grain and cash subsidy scheme. The pro- gramme now covers 25 provinces in over 1 600 counties, (autonomous regions and municipalities) and involves 15 mil- lion households and 60 million farmers. From 1999 to 2002, 7.7 million hectares of land was converted into forest, includ- ing 3.72 million hectares of farmland- turned forest and 3.98 million hectares of plantations established on barren hills. In 2002 alone, over 5 billion kg of grain and US$67 million in cash were disbursed to over 10 million farm households. The Grain for Green programme is consid- ered the largest participatory community forest project in China, possibly in the world (Zhiyong 2003). More recently, the planting of trees has also emerged as a vital tool for addressing climate change. Under the Kyoto Protocol, companies and govern- ments can help meet their greenhouse gas emission caps by financing offset projects, such as tree planting designed to absorb CO 2 . A voluntary carbon market is emerging in which people, companies and governments can pur- chase carbon offsets to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions caused, for example, by their use of transportation or electricity generation. Although the carbon market is growing fast, soaring in value from US$10.8 billion to US$64 billion between 2005-2007 (World Bank 2007), tree planting still represents only