Rain forests: Does the U.S. have the right to regulate the world’s rainforests?

Introduction:

Rain forests: Does the U.S. have the right to regulate the world’s rainforests?

The 5^th of June of every year is celebrated as World Environment Day. What forms an environment? Living and non-living things? True. In addition to this, it also entails our climate, rivers, mountains, plateaus, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide that make up our beautiful environment, our northern lights. There are so many elements that influence our environment. Anything too much or too little will not only hinder our environment but also lead the environment to reach an imbalance we cause it, for example: global warming.

“The United States has the fourth largest forest estate in the world, including about 8 per cent of the world’s forests. We have about 304 million hectares of forest land covering about a third of our land area. These lands range from boreal forests in Alaska; to deciduous forests in the eastern United States; pine plantations in the southern United States; dry coniferous forests in the western United States; to temperate rainforests on the West Coast; to the tropical rainforests of Puerto Rico and here in Hawaii. Fifty-six per cent of our forest lands are in private ownership. The rest are managed by local, tribal, state, and federal governments. The U.S. Forest Service manages about 77 million acres of federal land called national forests and national grasslands. Most states have at least one national forest or national grassland.”[1]

There are various threats to the environment. Why is it important that we pay heed to this fact? Because what we put out to the world eventually comes back to us. Severe climate change only puts us in danger. For example: if it does not rain for a year or even a year, farmers suffer a huge deal. Deforestation, soil erosion, and poaching are a few examples of the threats our environment faces that need to be addressed in all seriousness.

What are rainforests? It’s effect on Global Climate

Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, high humidity, the presence of moisture-dependent vegetation, a moist layer of leaf litter, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. [2] The largest areas of rainforest are tropical or temperate rainforests, but other vegetation associations including subtropical rainforest, littoral rainforest, cloud forest, vine thicket and even dry rainforest have been described.[3] A natural rainforest emits and absorbs vast quantities of carbon dioxide.[4] On a global scale, long-term fluxes are approximately in balance, so that an undisturbed rainforest would have a small net impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels,[5] though they may have other climatic effects (on cloud formation, for example, by recycling water vapor).[6]  No rainforest today can be considered to be undisturbed.[7] Human-induced deforestation plays a significant role in causing rainforests to release carbon dioxide,[8] as do other factors, whether human-induced or natural, which result in tree death, such as burning and drought.[9] Some climate models operating with interactive vegetation predict a large loss of Amazonian rainforest around 2050 due to drought, forest dieback and the subsequent release of more carbon dioxide.[10]

“Mixed forest, a vegetational transition between coniferous forest and broad-leaved deciduous forest, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. “Mixed forest” also may denote a forest with two or more dominant tree species. In North America, the term is often used to designate the forest of the Appalachian Plateau, characterized by many tree species and moderate precipitation.”[11]

Does the U.S. have the right to regulate the world’s rainforests? 3 Key Things to know about the Forest Act?[12]

1. The FOREST Act would prohibit products that have been linked to illegal deforestation from entering the US, building on the Lacey Act, which prohibits illegal timber and wildlife from entering the country.
2. The bill would create the ability for the US to prosecute people and organizations driving illegal deforestation.
3. The bill would also create a fund to help countries transition away from deforestation and create effective enforcement and conservation programs.

Severe and worsening wildfires, floods, and storms have brought climate change to the doorsteps of millions of U.S. households and the nation’s financial system, forcing the crisis to the forefront of the international policy agenda.[13] Although action is long overdue, there has been little political will to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transition the global economy away from fossil fuels, and tackle the biodiversity crisis that is concurrent with—and linked to—climate change.[14] While scientists agree that the world must limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, 2021 global pledges still fall short of that benchmark. [15] While forests naturally emit carbon, they are currently a net carbon sink: Between 2001 and 2019, global forests absorbed 7.6 billion metric tons³ of carbon dioxide per year.[16] n 2020, California wildfires emitted 91 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.[17]

Debt-for-Nature Swaps Orchestrated by the United States: “The United States has entered into debt-for-nature agreements with the Philippines in which indigenous people are used similarly to park rangers, patrolling the area. In a time when most countries complain that the rainforest is too large to police, funding to educate indigenous peoples to protect their own sovereignty is a creative idea. This could be a workable solution for Amazon. Besides the indigenous tribes, many small farmers are living off of the land. If these people were taught to sustainably manage their land, they would be motivated to protect it. This participation would acknowledge indigenous peoples’ sovereign rights and promote successful enforcement of conservation programs.”[18]

After several successful debt exchanges between conservation organizations and Latin American countries, the United States decided to become involved in debt exchange.[19] Under the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI) debtor countries may reduce money owed to the United States under the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954.[20] The debtor country still must pay the principal, but the interest is paid into an “Environmental Fund.”[21] Some of the suggested changes in economic policies include the elimination of subsidies, including food subsidies, the elimination of price controls, privatization, and tax reform.[22] Often, these reforms have negative political and social impacts which result in the countries feeling more pressure to use their natural resources for economic stability.[23]

Read More – Protecting the Environment: An Overview of US Environmental Laws

[1] State of Forests and Forestry in the United States | US Forest Service (usda.gov)

[2] Rainforest - Wikipedia

[3] "Rainforests". Wet Tropics Management Authority. Retrieved 9 July 2021.

[4] Id 2.

[5] "Grida.no" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-08-26.

[6] Ibid 4.

[7] Lewis, S. L.; Phillips, O. L.; Baker, T. R.; Lloyd, J.; Malhi, Y.; Almeida, S.; Higuchi, N.; Laurance, W. F.; Neill, D. A.; Silva, J. N. M.; Terborgh, J.; Torres Lezama, A.; Vásquez Martinez, R.; Brown, S.; Chave, J.; Kuebler, C.; Núñez Vargas, P.; Vinceti, B. (29 March 2004). "Concerted changes in tropical forest structure and dynamics: evidence from 50 South American long-term plots". 

[8] Malhi, Yadvinder; Grace, John (August 2000). "Tropical forests and atmospheric carbon dioxide". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 15 (8): 332–337. doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(00)01906-6. PMID 10884705.

[9] "Drought may turn forests into carbon producers". The Age. Melbourne. 2004-03-06.

[10] Cox, P. M.; Betts, R. A.; Collins, M.; Harris, P. P.; Huntingford, C.; Jones, C. D. (June 2004). "Amazonian forest dieback under climate-carbon cycle projections for the 21st century". Theoretical and Applied Climatology. 78 (1–3): 137. Bibcode:2004ThApC..78..137C. doi:10.1007/s00704-004-0049-4. S2CID 5122043.

[11] Rainforest | Definition, Plants, Map, & Facts | Britannica

[12] Below mentioned points have been retrieved from: What Is the FOREST Act? Everything to Know About the US Bill to Fight Deforestation (globalcitizen.org)

[13] How the United States Can Fulfill Its Critical Forest Pledges - Center for American Progress

[14] H.O. Pörtner and others, “IPBES-IPCC Co-Sponsored Workshop Report on Biodiversity and Climate Change” (Bonn, Germany: IPBES and IPCC, 2021), available at https://www.ipbes.net/events/ipbes-ipcc-co-sponsored-worksho

[15] Climate Action Tracker, “Glasgow’s one degree 2030 credibility gap: net zero’s lip service to climate action,” available at https://climateactiontracker.org/press/Glasgows-one-degree-2030-credibility-gap-net-zeros-lip-service-to-climate-action/ (last accessed January 2022).

[16] Nancy L. Harris and others, “Global maps of twenty-first century forest carbon fluxes,” Nature Climate Change 11 (3) (2021): 234–240, available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00976-6.

[17]

[18] Maintaining Sovereignty and the Tropical Rainforests: The Promise of Debt-for-Nature Swaps (ucdavis.edu)

[19] J. Eugene Gibson & William J. Schrenk, The Enterprise for the Americas Initiative: A Second Generation of Debt-for-Nature Exchanges-with an Overview of Other Recent Exchange Initiatives, 25 GEO. WASH. J. INT'L L. & ECON. 1, 8 (1992). 16-18.

[20] 8 7 U.S.C. § 1738 (2000); see also 22 U.S.C. § 2281 (2000) (defining debt-for-nature exchange).

[21] Gibson & Schrenk, supra note 75, at 19.

[22] Id at 21.

[23] Id.