Bush Administration misleads public on deforestation effort
mongabay.com
May 21, 2006


The Bush Administration is misleading the American public and the United Nations about its efforts to address tropical deforestation according to analysis by the Tropical Forest Group, an environmental advocacy group based in Santa Barbara, California.

The Tropical Forest Group alleges that the US Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), a key initiative to reduce carbon emissions and tropical deforestation, has been neglected for a year and a half despite recent claims by the Bush Administration that it was actively supporting the program.

The Tropical Forest Group says that the Administration issued two official reports in April – one to a U.N. body and another for the American public on Earth Day.

The first, “Submission of the United States: Views on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries: Approaches to Stimulate Action”, was sent to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and reads “the United States has made a significant and sustained commitment to helping tropical countries conserve and protect their forest resources.”

The second statement, issued by the State Department on April 21, 2006 -- the day before Earth Day -- is titled “Bush Administration Launches New Global Conservation Initiatives” and states “…the Bush Administration, assisted by the Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), has launched new global initiatives and partnerships, including those highlighted here.” The statement claims “the US is contributing or generating $150 million to conserve tropical forests worldwide” through the TFCA and the President’s Initiative Against Illegal logging.

The Tropical Forest Group contends that these statements are misleading at best. According to their analysis the administration has committed far less money to these efforts and has not signed a new TFCA conservation agreement in 18 months.

Hayley Nyeholt, TFG’s associate director says, “I don't see how the Administration can make these proclamations with a straight face. They put $4 million into the President’s illegal logging initiative. $20 million was allocated to the TFCA this year."

The Tropical Forest Group report goes on to urge the administration to fully fund the TFCA at $70 million a year and actually use the money for its stated purpose, saving tropical forests.

The Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) was enacted in 1998 to offer eligible developing countries forego paying back debt owed to the U.S. in exchange for supporting local tropical forest conservation activities. To date six countries -- Bangladesh, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, and the Philippines -- have signed TFCA agreements. The State Department says that these deals will deals will generate over $60 million for tropical forest conservation over the life of the agreements. A TFCA agreement can be structured as debt reduction, debt buyback, or debt-for-nature swap, according to the State Department web site.

According to U.N. data, tropical deforestation rates increased 8.5 percent from 2000-2005 when compared with the 1990s, while loss of primary forests expanded by almost 24 percent over the same period. Overall, the U.N. estimates that 10.40 million hectares of tropical forest were permanently destroyed each year in the period from 2000 to 2005, an increase since the 1990-2000 period, when around 10.16 million hectares of forest were lost. Among primary forests, annual deforestation rose to 6.26 million hectares from 5.41 million hectares in the same period. On a broader scale, U.N. data shows that primary forests are being replaced by less biodiverse plantations and secondary forests. Due to a significant increase in plantation forests, forest cover has generally been expanding in North America, Europe and China while diminishing in the tropics. Industrial logging, conversion for agriculture (commercial and subsistence), and forest fires -- often purposely set by people -- are responsible for the bulk of global deforestation today.

Tropical forests are the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. Scientists are concerned that tropical deforestation is contributing to global warming and causing a mass extinction event not seen since the dawn of civilization.

BIG surprise!

SIN keeps flatulating, Marty keeps posting it and the rest of you INHALE!

Rykat, who cares? You obviously but if you ignore him, you won't be bothered. Just try it.

No thanks!

Smells like TRUTH to me.

Just donot breath

So let me get this straight. SIN belives that Bush and the US are the devils of this world, yet slam them because they are not spending more money to stop developing countries from destroying their own tropical forests! Dont get me wrong, I am NOT a Bush fan, but the US is damned if they do something, damned if they dont and everybody wants an influx of good old american cash!! Shame on you SIN, find something constructive to do that might help the situation rather than this ludicrous slamming the US every chance you get!!!

Halleluia -- some sanity! I've given up debating SIN, but RD deserves kudos.

http://www.purplethink.com

SIN, you have your agenda, bashing Bush, try looking deeper than that.
What Pres. has done more to protect the USA, and who do you suggest who would do a better job. Who can solve all the problems anyway.

You Corona Steve!

How could anyone do a worse job??

Oh no. Water, you just jinxed the whole damn thing. Things can always be worse!!!

(Maybe I'm still hopped-up afte rthe finale of 24 last night)

Bush is against the state sponsored terrorism of Iran. But what about the U.S. backing the Guatemalan army in the 70's and 80's which resulted in the death of 100,000 Mayans and other peoples. Either the use of force against people that have opposing ideologies is ok, or it isnt.

Talkin apples and dog terds there UDW,rest of the world knows our policies change every 4 or 8 years and if they havent figured that out...oh well!
How could anyone do a worse job?....uh..Clinton?

oops sorry, thats BJ Clinton

So, Bush is to blame not only for his own actions but those of other presidents? No Bush fan here, but have to call you on that leap you've made.

Doesn't Bush have enough problems of his own?

When have our policies changed? We still go into other countries and kill people that dont agree with us without the consent of the international community. And we still tell other countries that they can't do it. If the worst thing you've got against a president of 8 years is that he got a little nookie on the side, that is a testiment that he did an OK job.

Huh? O? UDW said: who could do a worse job?
I said Clinton...whats that got to do with Bush?

"consent of the international community" isnt that sweet and Frenchie would be talking German! If we waited for the likes of France, Germany and Russia's consent to to anything we'd get buried. They have their own interests and they are NOT ours!

Well our policies change ever 4-8 years so by your rational anything that happened in that past does not apply. Yes we have our own interest, but we can't force other people to see that way. Especially when our agenda is freedom and democracy. People know about freedom, its not like the U.S. holds a patent on it. Ive traveled many countries, and the US is the least free ive been in, in a lot of respects.

SIN, not me, as I have my own agenda, the road North to Mexico,, and still can't get off the ground.
News last week.
Roads being worked on all the way to Capt. Morgans, well a start, anyway.
George Allen for Pres. 2008

Woody Allen for Pres!

http://www.billionairesforbush.com

Maybe we can get another Texas oilman in the White House next time!

Reaper for President...at least we know he has better than an 80 IQ.

Rykat -- my fault, I was responding to UDW's post above not yours --

However, I refuse to defend Bush -- even if UDW is stretching a bit.

udw care to extrapolate on "least free I've been in".
As a conservative O, I wouldnt defend Bush either when it comes to mishandling of the southern border and "spending" (and stupid political misteps) the rest, no problem.