Restoration of forests and coasts can tackle ‘existential crises’ but is being overlooked

The restoration of natural forests and coasts can simultaneously tackle climate change and the annihilation of wildlife but is being worryingly overlooked, an international group of campaigners have said.

Animal populations have fallen by 60% since 1970, suggesting a sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is under way, and it is very likely that carbon dioxide will have to be removed from the atmosphere to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Trees and plants suck carbon dioxide from the air as they grow and also provide vital habitat for animals.

“The world faces two existential crises, developing with terrifying speed: climate breakdown and ecological breakdown,” the group writes in a letter to the Guardian. “Neither is being addressed with the urgency needed to prevent our life-support systems from spiralling into collapse.

“We are championing a thrilling but neglected approach to averting climate chaos while defending the living world: natural climate solutions. Defending the living world and defending the climate are, in many cases, one and the same.”

The signatories include the school strikes activist Greta Thunberg, the climate scientist Prof Michael Mann, the writers Margaret Atwood, Naomi Klein and Philip Pullman and the campaigners Bill McKibben and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, and the musician Brian Eno are also among the signatories of the letter, which was instigated by the Guardian writer George Monbiot.

The group emphasises that natural climate solutions are not an alternative to the rapid decarbonisation of energy, transport and farming. Both are needed, the campaigners say.

The United Nations announced a Decade of Ecosystem Restoration at the start of March. “The degradation of our ecosystems has had a devastating impact on both people and the environment,” said Joyce Msuya, the head of the UN Environment Programme. “Nature is our best bet to tackle climate change and secure the future.”

Recent research indicates that about a third of the greenhouse gas reductions needed by 2030 can be provided by the restoration of natural habitats, but such solutions have attracted just 2.5% of the funding for tackling emissions.

The greatest impact is likely to come from the restoration of forests, particularly areas in the tropics that were razed for cattle ranching, palm oil plantations and timber. But natural climate solutions must not compete with the need to feed the world’s growing population, the letter says, and must be implemented with the consent of local communities.

Effective ways of restoring habitat often overlap with the conservation of wildlife, the group says. Boosting the populations of forest elephants and rhinos in Africa and Asia would help spread the seeds of trees that have a high carbon content, for example, while more wolves would lead to fewer plants being eaten by moose.

The fastest accumulation of carbon occurs in vegetated coastal habitats such as mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrass beds, research shows, which also protect communities from storms. Here, carbon can be sequestered 40 times faster than in tropical forests. Peatlands must also be protected and restored, the group says, as they store one-third of all soil carbon despite covering just 3% of the world’s land.

Other suggested ways of removing carbon dioxide from the air include burning wood to generate electricity and burying the emissions, but to work at scale this would require vast amounts of land.

A website, Natural Climate Solutions, is launched on Wednesday calling on governments to back such measures and “to create a better world for wildlife and a better world for people”.

“Our aim is simple: to catalyse global enthusiasm for drawing down carbon by restoring ecosystems,” said Monbiot, who has written a report for the website. “It is the single most undervalued and underfunded tool for climate mitigation.”

Photo by gideonc

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The following articles are sourced from the ICAA Registry and Yes to Life, no to Mining. Froxán’s community is also elegible for a prize from the European Outdoor Conservation Association that would help them take their re-foresting work up a notch. Please consider voting for them through this link. The deadline for voting in March 23rd.

The Froxán Common Woodlands, Spain

The Froxán Common Woodlands are a community land of 100 hectares that has been recognized since 1977 as a ‘monte veciñal en man común‘ (‘common hand community land’). This is a consuetudinary land ownership status, recognized in Galician and Spanish law. Its manorial origin can be traced back to 1409 and its charters were issued in 1527 and 1709, defining the boundaries of community lands and the manorial obligations.

The peasants of Froxán collectively extinguished the manorial ties in 1928, buying off the lands for the sum of 6.049 pesetas. However, this ‘manorial redemption’ agreement was not respected by the state, which took hold of the common lands, incorporating them into the Public Woodlands Catalogue. This severely restricted traditional rights of use, and in particular communal pastoralism. Lands were handed over to mining companies, which held concessions over the community territory, and to the State Forestry Service, which established its own plantations. Mining activities produced severe environmental degradation and land disputes that continue today. Invasive forest species, including Acacia and Eucalyptus, were introduced during the same period.

Across Galicia, social pressure against forced reforestation programmes led to the legal recognition in 1968 of ‘common hand’ community lands. On April 14 1975, seven months before the death of the Dictator Franco, the entire Froxán community signed a petition to the Civil Governor demanding the devolution of common lands. This occurred in defiance of the Municipality, which legally held the property at the time. In 1977, the Froxán Common Woodlands were formally recognized, and the community gained legal status soon after. Direct assembly governance was established, with one representative of each house making up the collective body. Commoner status is not dependent on property ownership or inheritance, but on effective residency and participation in the village community and collective decision-making. In 2002, the last remaining ties with the Public Administration were broken, finalizing the Forestry Contract that had been inherited from the dictatorship period, and gaining full self-governance of the community lands.

Faced with degradation from mining, the community commenced restoration efforts in the 1990s, and these continue to the present day. Initially, the restoration efforts included filling abandoned pits and shafts. More recently, efforts have been initiated to eradicate exotic invasive species (particularly Acacia decurrens, Acacia dealbata and Robinia pseudoacacia) that are aggressively expansive and pyrophytes. Eucalyptus plantations are also being removed, as the last productive cycle gives way to restoration with high-ecological-value native species.

In spite of the influence of invasive species, the community’s territory includes several priority natural habitats under the EU Habitats Directive, such as Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (91E0*), Temperate Atlantic wet heaths with Erica ciliaris and Erica tetralix (4020*), Arborescent matorral with Laurus nobilis (5230*) and other natural habitats such as Galicio-Portuguese oak woods with Quercus robur and Quercus pyrenaica (9230), Forest vegetation with Castanea sativa (9260) and Caves not open to the public (8310). Several endangered species (such as Dyopteris guanchica) have been identified in a participatory inventory (see related links), and the area has been included as a Special Scenic Interest Site (LEIP) in the Galician Landscape Catalogue.

Continuing traditional resource uses include gathering firewood, which is used for heating and cooking, and is sporadically sold on a commercial basis generating revenue for the Community; spring water is utilized for household use and irrigation, and also collected in open deposits for wildfire suppression; gorse (Ulex europaeus) is gathered as ‘molime‘ to strawbed (‘estrar’) animal housing and generate manure (‘esterco‘) for fields and food gardens; chestnuts (from Castanea sativa) are gathered are roasted during their season and also preserved; wild mushrooms are gathered and preserved (the common land has been designated as a wild mycological production area); certain aromatic and medicinal plants are used for cultural practices, including Midsummer Solstice (St. John’s eve) or Mayday (‘Maios‘). Two wind turbines have also been installed in the common lands under a 30 year lease agreement, but the community is unable to self-manage energy production under current regulations.

In addition to natural heritage, the common lands hold significant cultural heritage that evidences a long history of communal management. This includes a large stone enclosure that has been dated to the Early Middle Ages, which would hold the community’s herds in the higher part of the mountain. Another feature is a traditional water mill that was documented in a 1563 notarial deed. Oral memory testifies to the existence of a megalithic burial mound called ‘Casa Vella’ (‘Old House’) that would have been destroyed by mining in the mid-20th century, and similar megalithic sites are present in the area. An ancient pathway, which has been identified as a possible secondary route of the Roman Via XX ‘Per loca maritima‘, also goes through the common Castanea sativa forest, preserved by the modern road that replaced it.

In recent years, the Community has been active in engaging the wider society in its conservation and restoration efforts, particularly working with children, schools, families and environmental organizations. These groups have assisted in reclaiming degraded areas affected by mining activity and invasive species, through participatory reforestation with native species. Through these activities, the community seeks to develop an ongoing programme for education and sustainability, showcasing the potential of community land-management in addressing pressing environmental and social issues. These issues include climate change, wildfires, invasive species, land and water contamination and degradation, alternatives to rural depopulation, and cultural continuity among traditional peasant communities in Galicia. These efforts were recognized in 2017 with the inclusion of Froxán in the ICCA Registry, being the first Community Area in Spain (and the third in Europe), together with Santiago de Covelo, to participate in the Registry.

Take action:10,000 native tress for Froxán

Today the European Outdoor Conservation Association opened the voting to select a winner from 14 environmental conservation projects, selected as finalists from over 150. The winner will receive major new support for their project.

The Froxán Commons Community (YLNM member and registered Indigenous and Community Conserved Area, ICCA, in Galiza, Spain) is one of this year’s finalists. The community has been nominated for its project seeking to plant 10.000 native trees in 20 hectares of land that has been partially degraded in the past century by mining operations and is currently threatened by new mining concessions.

Voting only takes 2 seconds- support Froxán!

YLNM’s regional coordinators visited Froxán in 2017, learning how the local community and their common lands are threatened by Spanish miner Sacyr’s plans to re-open a tungsten mine. In response, the people of Froxán are filling in old mine workings, restoring their lands and reclaiming the area’s past, present and future for sustainable, commons-based living, not mining.

The people of Froxán’s project- 10,000 native trees for Froxán Community, Spain– would help take this work to the next level, building yet another example of prosperity without mining.

The deadline for voting in March 23rd.

Take action now to support Froxán!

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