We are inspired by the UN-REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) which states:
“Deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 11% of carbon emissions, more than the entire global transportation sector and second only to the energy sector. Halting and reversing deforestation could deliver up to 30% of the climate solution, making forests one of the most cost effective and immediate solutions to climate change”

Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. Climate change could refer to a particular location or the planet as a whole. Climate change may cause weather patterns to become less predictable. These unexpected weather patterns can make it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that rely on farming because expected temperature and rainfall levels can no longer be relied on. Climate change has also been connected with other damaging weather events such as more frequent and more intense hurricanes, floods, downpours, and winter storms.

In polar regions, the warming global temperatures associated with climate change have meant ice sheets and glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate from season to season. This contributes to sea levels rising in different regions of the planet. Together with expanding ocean waters due to rising temperatures, the resulting rise in sea level has begun to damage coastlines in the form of increased flooding and erosion.

The cause of current climate change is largely human activity (anthropogenic causes), like burning fossil fuels (eg. natural gas, oil, and coal) and deforestation. Burning these materials releases what are called greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere. There, these gases trap heat from the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere causing Earth’s average temperature to rise. This rise in the planet’s temperature is called global warming. The warming of the planet impacts local and regional climates. Throughout Earth’s history, climate has continually changed. When occurring naturally, this is a slow process that has taken place over hundreds and thousands of years. The human influenced climate change that is happening now is occurring at a much faster rate.

As in past years, commodity-driven deforestation was the leading cause of tree cover loss (both in primary and secondary forests) in Latin America and Southeast Asia, while shifting agriculture dominates in tropical Africa. In addition, fires and other climate-related impacts continued to play a big role, both in the tropics and beyond. The new data makes it clear that we continue to lose forests at a staggering rate and that many forest-related targets with 2020 deadlines were missed.

The situation is increasingly urgent: the effects of climate change are already being felt, countless species are being lost to the extinction crisis, and forest clearing linked to land-grabbing is having irreversible impacts on the rights, livelihoods and cultural heritage of numerous forest peoples. Initiatives to rebuild economies in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic offer an opportunity to reimagine policies and economies in a way that protects forests before it’s too late.

Individual action on climate change can include personal choices in many areas, such as diet, means of long and short-distance travel, household energy use, consumption of goods and services, and family size. Individuals can also engage in local and political advocacy around issues of climate change. A simple three part mantra can bring about meaningful change in our daily lives:

1. Be Aware
– Read about climate and environmental issues
– Learn about the actions others are taking
– Ask elected representatives what environmental policies and legislations they support
– Support worthy causes

2. Be Mindful
– Read labels while shopping for clothes, groceries, or pretty much anything
– Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot (compost)
– Make conscious choices

3. Be Hopeful
– There is a lot of eco-anxiety these days, further compounded by the pandemic. Yet there are enough reasons to be hopeful – many individuals and communities all around the world are taking actions in their spheres of influence. Some of these inspiring stories are posted on the Sacred Groves blog page https://www.sacredgroves.earth/blog/

Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
Methane
Nitrous oxide
Fluorinated gases

CO₂ produced by human activities is the largest contributor to global warming. By 2020, its concentration in the atmosphere had risen to 48% above its pre-industrial level (before 1750). Natural causes, such as changes in solar radiation or volcanic activity are estimated to have contributed less than +/- 0.1°C to total warming between 1890 and 2010.

Causes for rising emissions:
1. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas produces carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
2. Deforestation and clearing of natural ecosystems such as forests, mangroves, peatlands, wetlands, etc. Natural ecosystems help to regulate the climate by many ways such as absorbing CO₂ from the atmosphere, generating natural humidity and cooling by way of transpiration, preventing soil erosion, acting as a store of carbon, etc. When these are cut down or in anyway adversely impacted, these beneficial effects are lost and the carbon stored is released into the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect.
3. Increasing livestock farming. Cows and sheep produce large amounts of methane when they digest their food.
4. Fertilisers containing nitrogen produce nitrous oxide emissions.
5. Fluorinated gases are emitted from equipment and products that use these gases. Such emissions have a very strong warming effect, up to 23,000 times greater than that of CO₂.

Global warming:
2011-2020 was the warmest decade recorded, with global average temperature reaching 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2019. Human-induced global warming is presently increasing at a rate of 0.2°C per decade.

An increase of 2°C compared to the temperature in pre-industrial times is associated with serious negative impacts on the natural environment and human health and wellbeing, including a much higher risk that dangerous and possibly catastrophic changes in the global environment will occur. For this reason, the international community has recognised the need to keep warming well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.