Today, tobacco is grown in more than 100 countries. 80 of these are developing third world countries and in many the growing of tobacco is a major environmental problem.

Here are some of the reasons why:

How tobacco is damaging the health of our world:

• Many tobacco growing countries have a big problem with deforestation. Trees are cut down to make way for tobacco fields, and to produce wood for drying tobacco leaves. Together, this represents almost 2% of global deforestation

• Nearly 5% of forests are going up in smoke thanks to tobacco cultivation in developing countries

• Growing of tobacco necessitates a vast array of toxic fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides which damage the environment. A tobacco field is sprayed several times during the growing season

• Most importantly, the growing of tobacco in developing countries reduces food production. Tobacco plantations take up space that could be used to produce food for 10 to 20 million people

How tobacco is staining our nation:

• 40% of all litter removed from our streets are cigarette stubs

• Cigarettes and matches are the most common source of ignition causing deaths from fire

So that’s what we mean by the bigger picture. Yes, by giving up you are doing yourself a huge favour. You’ve already improved your own health and quality of life. But you’ve also opted out of an industry and a habit that is harming the health of the environment at home and abroad. Ultimately, cigarettes are harming the very world we all live in.

That’s quite a thought to carry with you. By staying smoke-free you’re improving life for yourself and those around you. You also have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re no longer contributing to a poorer environment – either on your own doorstep or the other side of the world.

So STOP SMOKING NOW and make a world of difference.

Labels: deforestation, environment, environmental, tobacco

Financial incentives for cutting carbon emissions could earn developing countries up to US$13 billion in carbon credits per year — but there are several issues for policymakers to tackle first, says a new study.

The study, published in the latest issue Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, analyses the best ways to reward developing countries that manage to reduce their carbon emissions from deforestation.

Authors Johannes Ebeling and Maï Yasué estimated the carbon credits that could be generated by reducing emissions from deforestation (or 'RED'), based on annual deforestation data from 1990—2005.

They found that a ten per cent global reduction could generate a 'carbon finance' of up to about US$13 billion per year.

They suggest that the funding issues faced by forest conservation might be addressed by linking RED efforts with the international carbon market, responsible for transactions worth US$33.3 billion in 2006.

A scheme known as REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation) has been proposed for the new protocol that will replace Kyoto in 2012.

But REDD will mainly benefit countries with a record of heavy deforestation, which may hinder political support from countries with a good REDD record, the authors warn.

Ebeling told SciDev.Net that a solution must be found so that countries with restricted deforestation are compensated.

Another major concern is that countries that could benefit most from REDD credits, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, score low on governance. These countries, say the authors, tend to have higher deforestation rates and less success in conservation.

"Even if lower deforestation rates are achieved, weak governance structures may make it difficult to pass on benefits to rural populations, and corrupt government agencies may show little interest in sharing benefits fairly or support bottom-up conservation initiatives," write the authors.

Following last year's UN climate-change meeting in Bali, there has been some debate about forest conservation methods. Suggestions have included incorporation into carbon-trading schemes and an international fund for tackling deforestation (see Managing world's tropical forest spurs debate).

"Given that deforestation accounts for over 20 per cent of anthropomorphic carbon dioxide emissions, it is essential that [RED credits] are at the centre of the process," says Matthew Owen, director of Cool Earth, a UK nongovernmental organisation.

"Relying on a fund would give a limited amount of cash but, with RED credits, nations will be able to independently trade them in a global carbon market, that will only grow in size."

Labels: carbon credits, carbon emissions, carbon finance, climate change, deforestation, kyoto, REDD

The halting of logging in the world's rainforests is the single greatest solution to climate change, Prince Charles has said.

He called for a mechanism to be devised to pay poor countries to prevent them felling their rainforests.

The prince told the BBC's Today programme that the forests provided the earth's "air conditioning system".

He said it was "crazy" the rainforests were worth more "dead than alive" to some of the world's poorest people.

The world's forests store carbon in their wood and in their soils.

But they are being felled for timber products, food and now bio fuels. Experts say this carbon is being released into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, published in 2006, suggested that the destruction adds about 18% to the CO2 from human sources.

Prince Charles said of the rainforests: "When you think they release 20 billion tonnes of water vapour into the air every day, and also absorb carbon on a gigantic scale, they are incredibly valuable, and they provide the rainfall we all depend on."

He said a way had to be found to ensure people living in the rainforest were adequately rewarded for the "eco-system services that their forest provides the rest of the world".

He said: "The trouble is the rainforests are home to something like 1.4 billion of the poorest people in the world.

"In order to survive there has to be an effort to produce things which tends to be at the expense of the rainforest.

"What we've got to do is try to ensure that those forests are more valuable alive than dead.

"At the moment there's more value in them being dead. This is the crazy thing."

Prince Charles said of the rainforests: "When you think they release 20 billion tonnes of water vapour into the air every day, and also absorb carbon on a gigantic scale, they are incredibly valuable, and they provide the rainfall we all depend on."

He said a way had to be found to ensure people living in the rainforest were adequately rewarded for the "eco-system services that their forest provides the rest of the world".

He said: "The trouble is the rainforests are home to something like 1.4 billion of the poorest people in the world.

"In order to survive there has to be an effort to produce things which tends to be at the expense of the rainforest.

"What we've got to do is try to ensure that those forests are more valuable alive than dead.

"At the moment there's more value in them being dead. This is the crazy thing."

Drought and starvation

The prince called on governments, big business and consumers to demand an end to logging in the rainforest.

He said the time was right to persuade business to play its part because there was increasing concern about global warming.

"Halting deforestation would be the easiest and cheapest way in helping in the battle against climate change," he said.

"Waiting for all the new technologies to come on stream is not going to be soon enough."

Charles said if deforestation did not slow down soon there would be "far more drought and starvation on a grand scale".

Urgency

He said: "We're asking for something pretty dreadful unless we really understand the issues now, and urgency of those issues.

"It is the easiest way to create a win on the climate change front while all sorts of other things come along later."

The BBC's environment analyst, Roger Harrabin, says that Prince Charles' observation that saving the forests is the cheapest and most effective way of cutting CO2 emissions is "widely acknowledged".

At the recent Bali climate conference, developing countries asked for compensation from rich nations if they agreed to avoid future deforestation.

Talks are continuing, but there are issues over sovereignty – and genuine difficulties over who pays, who collects, and how much money should be offered.

Mike Childs, of Friends of the Earth, said: "The Prince is absolutely right to highlight deforestation as the single greatest cause of climate change, but putting a stop to it much more complex.

"Forests are cut down for many different reasons, such as the growing of food, animal fodder and bio fuels."

Labels: bio fuels, carbon, climate change, co2, deforestation, eco-system, economics, friends of the earth, global warming, prince charles, rainforests, stern review