CLIMATE / RAINFOREST ACTIONALERT

[Guest guest]

Southeast Asia's Burning Rainforests and Peatland Threaten World's Climate

 

By Climate Ark & Rainforest Portal,

Projects of Ecological Internet, Inc.

http://www.rainforestportal.org/ and http://www.climateark.org/

October 8, 2006

 

TAKE ACTION

Let Kyoto Protocol Delegates Know You Demand Immediate Action to

Stop Rainforest Fires and Peatland Agricultural Conversion

http://www.climateark.org/alerts/send.asp?id=indonesia_peatland

 

On November 6th governments from all over the world will be

meeting in Nairobi for the year's most important United Nations

climate change talks. To date international policy discussions

have largely ignored the destruction and burning of Southeast

Asia's rainforest peatlands. These wet, swampy rainforests are

drained to be cleared for agricultural plantations, and as they

dry their peat filled soils are highly susceptible to long

burning, carbon and methane rich fires. Peatland fires have for

years been one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas

emissions - accounting for the equivalent of some 15% of all

global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Hundreds of peat and

forest fires are once again burning across Borneo, Sumatra and

Java. Unless the international community acts quickly, Southeast

Asia's emissions of carbon and methane from burning peatlands

alone may lead to dangerous climate change including massive sea

level rises and mass extinctions. Expansion of oil palm

plantations, illegal logging and timber plantations have been

identified as the main drivers of the destruction. Take action!

http://www.climateark.org/alerts/send.asp?id=indonesia_peatland