FOREST FLASH OCTOBER 2021
In Pacific Forest Trust’s e-newsletter, Forest Flash, we send you the most recent PFT news and updates on forests, clean water, climate, and wildlife, no more than once or twice a month. Subscribe here.
COP26 will see global leaders, including PFT, convene in Glasgow.
Forest conservation, restoration and improved management provide multiple climate benefits, from increased carbon sequestration and reduced emissions to improved watershed function and wildlife habitat. Early next month, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will meet in Glasgow, Scotland. PFT will attend as an accredited observer, focusing on enhancing understanding of the vital role forest conservation and stewardship must play in meeting our shared global challenge, as we have since 2005.
This is the first check in on the Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs), part of the Paris Agreement from the historic 2017 COP, where all nations agreed to keep emissions low enough that temperatures would not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Forests are an essential part of the climate change solution, but policies to leverage the natural power of forests to combat climate change have lagged behind those to reduce fossil fuel emissions. While discussions in Scotland will largely focus on issues of finance, justice and equity, as well as on reporting towards the NDCs, we’re encouraged by states like California, with its proposed draft Climate Smart Land Strategy (below), that seek to strongly leverage natural climate solutions, especially forests.
We invite you to follow our social media beginning November 1 for updates from Scotland, and to join PFT President Laurie Wayburn and Board members Andrea Tuttle, Ann Bartuska and Jerry Franklin for a live webinar November 10, where they’ll share their thoughts on forests as Natural Climate Solutions and inside impressions from the COP.
California forests represent a significant carbon storage opportunity.
Earlier this month, California released a draft Climate Smart Land Strategy (CSLS), outlining needs and opportunities – such as forest conservation and restoration – to address the climate crisis. The document frames out a broad path forward for how nature can help meet our climate challenge, and it contains a strong equity focus, including aspects that support and protect tribal management and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
We’re encouraged by the use of working forest conservation easements, a mechanism pioneered by Pacific Forest Trust, to help landowners meet their twin goals of sustainable economic production and permanent resource protection. WFCEs are cited as important for their durable climate benefits as well as the protection of water supply and wildlife habitat. Other market mechanisms, such as procurement of climate smart food and fiber, are also included. While funding for implementation of the CSLS in the state budget is a good start at over $1 billion, much more will be needed to fully implement the Strategy’s goals and opportunities.
PFT staff gathered in San Francisco in October, planning for an impactful 2022.
This year has seen a massive increase in the reality and risks of advancing climate change. Wildfires in the west have burned across millions of acres, heat waves have scorched forests, drought has gripped Oregon and California, while floods have slammed the south and east. With this increased threat from climate change, Pacific Forest Trust’s mission to sustain forests, and the people who steward them, is all the more essential.
These next few years will be critical to our collective efforts to fight the impacts of climate change, and we need your help. We’re excited to announce a challenge match from a generous PFT donor, which will be dollar for dollar up to $100,000 through the end of 2021. There are three ways you can help us unlock these dollars:
1. Make a first-time contribution to PFT
2. Increase the amount of your previous gift (every dollar above your previous gift counts)
3. Become a monthly donor (total for the year of monthly gifts will apply)
With your support, Pacific Forest Trust will make the pivotal difference advancing forests as a core climate solution. Thank you.
Springs for Life is a partnership between PFT and companies committed to protecting and restoring critical forested headwaters where pure, natural springs are sources of drinking water for people across the country. A huge thanks to Affinity Creative and Crystal Geyser for their sponsorship and support in building this exciting new initiative!