DOES CARBON TRADING / CARBON PROJECT = CONSERVATION?
SHORT ANSWER : NO.
You can take my words for it and ignore the rest of the email. Or, if you want to depress yourself more, you can read on and try to understand the long answer…
First of all, carbon trading turns out to be nothing but fairytale. Because the ONLY THING that counts in this new “eco-market” is CARBON. It’s just another way of corrupting the climate change issue.
During the training, they (the trainers) did touched a little bit on the other dangerous greenhouse gasses like CH4 (methane), N2O (nitrous oxide), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
Carbon dioxide (CO2) has a lifetime of 5 – 2000 years in the atmosphere, depending on where it is and what kind of chemical processes it has undergone with the other gasses. CH4 can stay in the atmosphere 23 times longer than CO2. While N2O can stay in the atmosphere 296 times longer than CO2. The rest of the gasses live much longer, up to 22,000 times longer!
But because our forests / trees have given us a mechanism to absorb and store carbon, it’s natural that we only count the “carbon credits” or “carbon stocks” (the amount of carbon stored in trees) as the basis for this emerging market. We do this, they say, to protect our forests from being deforested or converted.
That’s great.
And that’s the fairytale.
As the training became more technical, however, I found out these facts:
- The internationally accepted definition of “forest” has 2 components:
1. Canopy cover
2. Tree height - Each country has its own definition of “forest” and submitted this definition to UNFCCC. But in summary, the definition is based on 3 criteria:
1. Minimum tree crown cover (ONLY) between 10 and 30%.
2. Minimum land area (ONLY) between 0.05 and 1 Ha.
3. Minimum tree height (ONLY) between 2 and 5 m.
Let’s think about it. Many of our lands in Indonesia are still fertile enough that when you cut down all the trees on a land, some resilient species still persist and live on or at least regenerate very quickly, giving you… at least 30% canopy cover in the area of at least 0.5 Ha, with average tree height of 4m.
HEY… in that case, by definition, THERE’S NO DEFORESTATION IN INDONESIA!!! LET’S GO HOME!!! Right.
So now you see, anything that satisfies those criteria WILL be considered a forest. That includes… oil palm plantation, coffee plantation, whatever else plantation… They’re green too… They absorb carbon too, some even absorb carbon at a better rate than normal forest trees…
Then it’s not so surprising that “afforestation” or monoculture tree plantations is listed as one of the activities that can generate carbon credits. Of course, there’s a criteria that afforestation can only be established on land that has not been forested since 1 Jan 1989. So it’s against international law to clear a forest and convert it into plantation. This is good. At least, we have something against Sinar Mas and other idiots who plan to clear Mamberamo for their plantations.
But my concern isn’t just about deforestation in Mamberamo or anywhere. My concern is that biofuel (oil palm, nipah, sugarcane, etc.) is being included in the framework to fight climate change, while the reality isn’t quite like that. Yes, biofuel means renewable source of energy that will help us reduce 2-century long dependency on fossil fuel. But this doesn’t necessarily mean we also reduce carbon emission. In fact, it could worsen the situation by not only emitting carbon but also other greenhouse gasses. AND… instead of being a solution to the climate crisis and oil crisis, the current biofuel policies of rich countries are contributing to a third crisis: the food crisis. This, according to OXFAM, is another inconvenient truth…
Biofuel plantations do absorb carbon just like any green forest on this planet. But unlike a natural forest, plantations need fertilizers and extra source of water for irrigation. The entire process of keeping a productive plantation will essentially release N2O and CH4. Not to mention the process of turning the crops into fuel, which, if not controlled and monitored closely, could release even more carbon into the atmosphere than a traditional fossil fuel operation. Then let’s say you put the finished product, the biofuel, in your car. Even with biofuel, your car will STILL emit CO2.
And even with the regulation that plantations must be established on non-forested land, how can we control and monitor that these plantations are not established on areas that are NOT supposed to be forests, such as savannas and natural grasslands?
So reading through the OXFAM report, biofuels turn out to be an overly expensive way of achieving emissions reductions from transport. Improving car efficiency is far more cost effective: while the costs of avoiding a ton of CO2 through biofuels run into the hundreds of dollars, ambitious improvements in vehicle efficiency can yield profits, as reduced fuel costs exceed technology costs. Biomass can be used far more efficiently in static applications such as commercial boilers or combined heat and power.
Another thing that bothers me is that even though a carbon project must show reduced deforestation below a “business-as-usual” baseline and also account for “leakage” (leakage is defined as increased deforestation elsewhere, which is directly or indirectly caused by a particular carbon project), there’s still no clear mechanism on how to define leakage areas and how much would be tolerated and what are the consequences for failing to control it. And since the leakage area is only defined in terms of deforestation (loss of carbon stock elsewhere), increased emissions of other greenhouse gasses could be ignored and would not be included as “leakage”.
Then, what REALLY pissed me off are this table and this graph:
So apparently, we in Indonesia are only contributing 7.4% of carbon to the atmosphere. AND that already INCLUDES the amount of carbon emitted from FOREIGN industrial companies in this country!
Look at the graph. Find anything funny? IT IS THEM that has destroyed their fucking forests, exploited our natural resources, emitted all kinds of greenhouse gasses from landfills, mining, manufacturing, electrical transmission and distribution system, land use conversion, fertilizer use, livestock production, all the while teaching us about commercialism and consumerism FOR OVER TWO FUCKING CENTURIES!!!!!
Even the graph isn’t quite right. If you really look at it, it looks like that we, in the developing countries, have also started to emit greenhouse gasses from the 1800s and that now we emit even greater amount of gasses than our developed neighbors. While the fact is, we (especially in Indonesia) have not even STARTED to emit anything other than natural gasses until the 1950s!!! How many of us possessed our own means of transportation (other than bicycles) at that time? How many of us could afford anything at that time? Even now, we still haven’t quite caught up with all the technologies and the comfort that the developed countries have enjoyed (on the expense of Mother Nature) for over 2 centuries!!!
Yes… They in the developed countries finally realized the mess that they’ve caused on Earth and decided to relocate many of their manufacturing and industrial processes to… ASIA. And now we get to take “credit” for the increased carbon emissions from our country. Then, they point their fingers at us, blaming us for deforestation and increased carbon emissions, and demand that we reduce, reuse, recycle and replant.
And NOW that we’ve JUST STARTED to develop our country, just started to enjoy all the comfort, just started to take pleasure in using all kinds of technologies, just started to be able to afford more and more things… THEY’RE TELLING US TO SWITCH TO BICYCLES AGAIN AND STOP USING AIR CONDITIONER AND DON’T DO THIS AND DON’T DO THAT???
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???
Guess what??? Unlike them, even with the horrendous rate of deforestation, WE STILL HAVE OUR FORESTS. And OBVIOUSLY, our forests are still enough to keep our carbon emission rate down to only 7.4% per year (remember, this already includes all the shit that they put in our country). Obviously, not all of us have adopted their hedonistic lifestyle coz there are still many of us living in remote areas who simply still can’t afford it.
Yes, I do agree that we must learn from their horrible mistakes. BUT… THEY MUST ADMIT THAT HISTORICALLY, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES HAVE THE GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY FOR GREENHOUSE GASSES. Why don’t THEY ride bicycles? Better yet, why don’t THEY close down GM Motors so no one is buying cars anymore?
POINT IS: Don’t throw that responsibility on us just because we still have forests and they don’t anymore! We’re still developing. We still need to build lots of roads and develop various infrastructures to be able to reach all of our brothers and sisters in remote areas, jungles and islands in order to provide them with good education, health services and jobs. Our people ALSO have the right to know how much better and easier life could be with money. Only if we can provide the right amount of incentives, only then we can teach them how to better manage their natural resources and prove to them that they can actually make a better living without destroying the environment. WITH NO INCENTIVES, FORGET IT!
So the idea that “POLLUTERS PAY” is actually a good idea. It’s just that… just like anything else, we are too hasty in pursuing it. We haven’t accounted all the risks, the impacts, the side effects, and the fact that everyone now is trying to be a CARBON TRADER. This is a new cool profession. And just like anything else… the end target is again… money. Not conservation. Not biodiversity. The entire concept… at the end of the day… is about money.
On a more positive note (not sure whether everyone will agree that this is positive), I learned a lot last week…
I have never defended my country ever before. This is the FIRST TIME EVER. I’ve never even defended Asia before. In fact, I spent all my life trying not to be an Indonesian or an Asian. I hated the Asian culture where respect is not earned but should be automatically given to older people or to people with certain social statuses. I hated the Asian culture where religion is automatically inherited. I hated so many things about Asia, particularly Indonesia. And so I rebelled against everything and everyone. I learned English and learned to speak it more than my own language. I burrowed deeply into Western life. I ate more potatoes instead of rice. I simply refused to listen to Indonesian traditional music or wear traditional clothes. This is the FIRST TIME I realized that being Indonesian has its advantages…
I suddenly realized that the developed nations are nations beset with fear. Just look at them. A patchwork of constantly dieting people, tyrannous bank fees and branch closures, teenage crimes and negligent laws upheld (or not) by (also) corrupt police. They fear to leave their kids alone at home (and they define kids as anyone under 15 years old! In Asia, 15 is the age to get married!). They fear to get sick. They fear to get old. They fear to get married. They fear to have kids. They fear they don’t have enough money. They fear everything.
I suddenly realized how extraordinarily resilient and resourceful we are as Indonesians. In developed nations, people strive to be independent individuals and break away from the family, because they thought that, as a last resort, they could rely on the government to take care of them. Here, we KNOW that NO GOVERNMENT could be trusted and, in the end, we have to subordinate our independence and individuality to the will of the family, because our security in life arises from the prosperity of the family as a whole. And that is why, every corruption, collusion and nepotism that is committed in this country, is committed for the family. The whole world may have hated Soeharto… But his family loved him very much for the security and prosperity he had provided for them.
That’s our strength as human beings. Collectively, we are unbreakable. And that’s the strength that has been forgotten by developed nations. And so now… they also fear that the planet is dying. And they will die with it…
I realized now that the planet is not dying. We are. But not the planet. Mother Nature doesn’t need defending. Mother Nature doesn’t need to be taught how to survive. She has done it for millions of years! It’s just that in order to survive, she kills. We’ve learned that she killed dinosaurs and many other species in the past. But she moved on. Life remained. Life evolved. New lives emerged.
Mother Nature killed the dinosaurs and we had nothing to do with that. We weren’t around to cut trees, rob their habitats, drive cars, use hairspray, eat on styrofoam plates and use AC. And she killed them anyway. So maybe this is our turn. Maybe this time she needs to kill us because we have dominated this planet too much and in order to find her delicate balance again, she must get rid of us. Or at least, some of us… So we experienced earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, landslides and hurricanes. That’s Mother Nature trying to maintain her perfect balance. Everything must be 50-50. Not 30-70. Not 80-20. But 50-50. Yin and yang.
So what to do now?
First, I definitely don’t want to think too hard anymore about this global warming and climate change shit. I love Mother Nature and will continue to enjoy everything she provides for me. But I’m gonna let her take the wheel. If she thinks I need to pay the consequences of my past actions, my lifestyle, then what choice do I have anyway? I will keep speaking for conservation and biodiversity… as loud as I can, as much as I can afford. But, I refuse to live in fear. I refuse to switch my car to a bicycle. I refuse to diet. I refuse to turn into a vegetarian (you’re gonna have to kill me first!) I turn off my AC when I want and turn it back on when I want. I refuse to be told by all those nations that we must fear. NO. I WON’T FEAR ANYMORE. So it’s global warming… so the climate changes… so let’s just face it…
Second, I’m grateful for all the scientists and conservationists and plain lunatics who have tried so hard to wake everybody up with films, photos, presentations, reports, campaigns, etc. But PowerPoint presentations and PDF reports and expensive campaigns won’t do anything good for Mother Nature. It is what WE DO that might make a difference. And so I’m most grateful to those people on the fields who monitor our biodiversity everyday despite of rain, storms and political unrest. They who visit to each remote village to teach the (stubborn and ignorant) villagers about conservation and biodiversity, despite facing the daily risks of being ambushed and killed by them and thrown to the sea. So learning from their example, I think it’s important that if I care, then I do something. I don’t have to say anything or write anything or present anything. Just do something. The result is not up to me to judge. So I can’t stress out over the result. I can’t stress out because I think I haven’t done enough. I HAVE. Believe it. I do all I can within my capacity and knowledge. Mother Nature will do the rest. I WON’T FEAR ANYMORE.
Third, I’m gonna live by that Asian value that has given me resilience and resourcefulness. My family and my friends. I’m gonna have fun with them while I still have the honor to live on this beautiful planet. After all, FRIENDSHIP is a kind of MEDICINE for PAIN, FEAR and SORROW. But to get a GOOD QUALITY one, sometimes you have to go to a BLACK MARKET. Hahaha… Yes, you guys know who you are… thank God I have you guys to keep me sane!
Last but not least, please remember that PROFIT is NOT a DIRTY WORD. It’s just that many scientists and conservationists think money grows on tree (although now it’s kinda true with the carbon project) and the fruits should fall in their direction. Similarly, businessmen think it’s their divine rights to pluck any low-hanging fruit. Let’s find the balance between the two. Yin and yang.
You can’t solve everything. You can’t make everyone happy. You can’t save the world. Accept that. And move on.
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