How protecting forest community rights fights global climate change

Author: Margaret Badore
Date: August 1, 2014
Chapter 12: Biodiversity
Content of the Article: http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/how-protecting-forest-community-rights-fights-global-climate-change.html

                                                                                                                      Summary
The problem in the article is deforestation because it is a major contributor to climate change. The humans are the players because we clear about 13 million hectares of forest each year, which increases the emission of greenhouse gases. The planet Earth and the humans are affected because the more greenhouse gas, the more the planet's temperature will increase, making it hard for some species to survive, and the greenhouse gases have major health risks for humans such as asthma and cancer. Solutions to this problem are to reduce the amount of forests being destroyed annually and planting new forests worldwide to reduce greenhouse gases and provide good air quality for the Earth's inhabitants (the ones that need oxygen anyway). I feel that this article made me realize that forests not only provide for thousands upon thousands of species, but that they also help prevent negative climate change (global warming). This article relates to AP Environmental Science because in chapter 12, efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation were discussed. In the article, the benefits of reducing logging operations are discussed and solutions to deforestation and its consequences are introduced just like in chapter 12 when Indonesia's president, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, committed to reducing the country's CO2 emissions by 26 (highest reduction pledge made by any developing country). I have learned that legally recognizing the right of the forest communities and the indigenous people is often overlooked but it may be the number one way to help prevent climate change caused by deforestation and forest degradation because it can completely stop the deforestation of the forests in which the people live on since they are dependent on the forests.