Photo: Shi! There’s a new fashion trend this fall: saving Indonesian rainforests. The Gucci Group, the prestigious conglomerate of fashion and luxury brands that owns Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Balenciaga, has decided to eliminate all paper made from Indonesian rainforests. That includes everything from its letterhead to the pretty paper bags with ribbon handles that they give to shoppers to hold their new couture.

A paper policy, you say? That’s not really fashionable, is it?

Turns out it is. Gucci Group’s policy puts it at the front of a list of major companies -- including Tiffany & Co., H&M Group, Hugo Boss, Bulgari, and Ferragamo -- that have decided  they don’t want their brands to be associated with the destruction of rainforests or with encouraging climate change.

Worldwide, the degradation and destruction of tropical rainforests is responsible for 20 percent of all annual greenhouse emissions. In Indonesia, which supplies much of America’s paper, a lot of this deforestation is driven by the pulp and paper industry -- notably the notorious paper company Asia Pulp and Paper.

This hurts the climate as well as the forests. The carbon emissions resulting from Indonesia’s rapid deforestation account for around 8 percent of global emissions -- more than the combined emissions from all cars, trucks, buses, planes, and trains in United States.

The Gucci Group’s comprehensive policy commits it to one of the strongest paper standards in the industry. With its new policy, the Gucci Group has pledged to reduce the amount of paper it uses, eliminate fiber from high-conservation-value forests, and only purchase recycled products or those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council by December 2010.

“Standing rainforests are not a luxury, they’re a necessity if the world wants to stop climate change,” said Mimma Viglezio, executive VP for global communications at the Group. “Our actions are lowering our own carbon footprint, but we hope that they will also raise awareness inside the fashion industry that it’s possible for our industry to make a difference for rainforests and for the climate.”

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Bukit Tigapuluh Forest is truly one of those special places. It’s got three endangered species, two minority groups of indigenous people and a superlative: it’s the last remaining stand of tropical lowland forest left on the island of Sumatra.

Funnily enough, it’s also about to be cut down.

Notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp and Paper has cut a road through the forest and is working on getting a concession to convert the forest (containing over 1,000 species of trees) into a tree plantation (containing maybe 2 species).

They’re calling this development.

Nonprofits and businesses around the world are calling it deforestation. Unfortunately, the new forest part of the of the climate change treaty (called REDD) under negotiation this week here in Bangkok may end up calling it carbon savings and subsidizing its destruction.

Only two days into Bangkok, REDD talks have been picking up from the snail’s pace that they were running at in the Bonn sessions earlier this year. Developing countries like India and Brazil have come out with stronger positions that are challenging developed countries to truly make forests a priority in the negotiations, and formerly timid Australia is stepping up to the plate.

But forest definitions remain a problem. As the situation currently stands, the proposed treaty text does not distinguish between intact natural forests (those that humans didn’t plant) and tree plantations. Not only is this a problem from a cultural and biodiversity point of view - since tree plantations don’t provide any of the habitat or cultural benefits of natural forests - it’s a problem from a climate point of view.

Intact natural ecosystems like forests store and absorb massive amounts of carbon, tree plantations, being younger and less diverse, store and absorb significantly less carbon. This equation means that converting forests to plantations is a net loss for the climate, increasing the 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation, rather than decreasing it, which is ostensibly, the point of REDD. 

Right now, Bangkok is all about setting rules for how the game of REDD will be played. Just like in any sport, we need to know where the goal is and which plays will draw a red card. If the rules aren’t set out clearly, we may end up permanently offsides.

Forest definitions sound geeky, but they really do matter. If a treaty intended to protect forests and the climate can’t save a place like Bukit Tigapuluh, then what are we doing here?

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Indonesian authorities have agreed to halt deforestation on the island of Sumatra, which has lost about half of its forest cover to logging since 1985. Conservationists joined Sumatran tigers, orangutans, rhinos, and elephants in applauding the deal, launched at the World Conservation Congress being held this week. Deforestation has increased the impact of flooding and forest fires on the island, not to mention cramping the style of the 200 mammal species and 580 bird species that live there: in one of Sumatra's 10 provinces, the elephant population has dropped 84 percent and the tiger population 70 percent in the last 20 years. In addition, more than 13 percent of the island's trees grow in peat, which stores vast amounts of carbon that would be let loose if the trees were removed.

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Sumatra's Tesso Nilo National Park will be doubled in size in an effort to help out the endangered elephants and tigers that live there. Riau province, which contains the park, houses some 210 elephants (down from 1,250 just a quarter-century ago) and 192 tigers (down from 650 in that same time period). Sixty to 80 elephants and some 50 tigers are believed to reside in Tesso Nilo. The park also has the most biodiverse highland forest plant life on earth, with some 4,000 recorded unique species. The expansion of the park to 212,500 acres "is a momentous decision that offers hope for some of the planet's most spectacular wildlife and forests," says Carter Roberts of WWF. "There is still much to do, however, as Sumatra's forests continue to disappear to feed the growing global demand for pulp, paper, and palm oil." Riau lost 11 percent of its forest cover in just one year between 2005 and 2006, and has 65 percent less forest cover than it did in the early 1980s.

sources:

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Orangutans are on their way toward extinction, says a new study that points out worrying declines in fuzzy-orange-ape populations. Orangutans only live in the wild on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo; the Sumatra orangutan population has dropped nearly 14 percent since 2004, while the Borneo population has fallen 10 percent. "Unless extraordinary efforts are made soon, it could become the first great ape species to go extinct," wrote researchers publishing in the journal Oryx. Illegal logging and palm-oil production are the main culprits; orangutan-lovers hold on to hope that any imminent international climate pact will include incentives for halting deforestation.

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A 12-day United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity ended Friday with just a wee bit of progress toward salvaging the world's rapidly disappearing flora and fauna. Perhaps most encouraging: The 191 countries present agreed to ban the controversial practice of seeding the ocean with nutrients to encourage growth of carbon-sucking algae. In addition, Germany, which hosted the conference, agreed to spend $785 million on forest preservation by 2013 and an equal sum annually after that. Indonesia said it will create a 77,000-square-mile marine protected area, the largest in the world; Bosnia, Malaysia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo also agreed to create nature preserves. But those relatively small steps forward aren't nearly enough, say critics, pointing out that three species go extinct every hour. "Of course we achieved less than we should have given the dimension of the problems," admits German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel. "Achieving unanimity among 191 states is difficult."

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An Indonesian court cleared a subsidiary of Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. of wrongdoing in a lawsuit filed against the company by an environmental group. The group, Walhi, had sought cleanup and an apology from Newmont's subsidiary for dumping mine waste from a now-closed gold mine directly into Buyat Bay, allegedly killing fish and sickening area residents with tumors, rashes, and more. The case, as well as a criminal suit against the company that ended in acquittal earlier this year, were considered by both sides to be key tests; if the cases had gone against Newmont, multinational mining companies may have been less likely to so brazenly pollute Indonesia's environment in the future. But phew, no need to worry about that now.

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Hoping to quell criticism from biofuel bashers, palm-oil producers have drawn up criteria for certifying their product as sustainable. It's a nice idea, but green group Friends of the Earth has threatened to withdraw its support of the standards, saying that Malaysia and Indonesia -- which together produce nearly 85 percent of the world's palm oil -- are using the voluntary initiative as an excuse to keep from legislating against rainforest-pillaging palm plantations.

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The makers of such familiar products as Pringles, KitKat, and Philadelphia cream cheese are contributing to deforestation and climate change, says a new report from Greenpeace. Companies like Unilever, Kraft, and Nestle use palm oil from Indonesia in their products. And guess what happens in Indonesia when the palm-oil peddlers come calling? Virgin forests are cut down, valuable peatlands are drained, and all hell breaks loose. Such deforestation and drainage releases carbon dioxide -- in fact, Indonesia now ranks third in human-made carbon emissions, behind the U.S. and China. Demand for palm oil for cosmetics and biofuels is only upping the ante. Says Greenpeace U.K. Director John Sauven, "The big food giants are supporting the rapid growth of CO2 emissions that may render halting dangerous climate change impractical, if not impossible."

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Thank your lucky stars you evolved, because it's not a great time to be an ape. In Indonesia and Malaysia, forests are being converted lickety-split into lucrative palm-oil plantations, and orangutans that leave their rapidly diminishing habitat to sneak in for a palmy snack are often tortured or killed. As if habitat destruction, poaching, logging, and disease weren't enough, the biofuel boom could help push apes over the edge: the United Nations has predicted that the 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild could be extinct within the decade. Indonesia and Malaysia produce 83 percent of the world's palm oil, which is used not only in biofuels, but in toothpaste, soaps, and foods. (Note to consumers: some companies, like Cadbury-Schweppes, Unilever, and the Body Shop, actively seek out sustainable palm oil.) One glimmer of hope: Uganda's government recently scrapped plans to convert thousands of acres of rainforest into a palm plantation, giving in to intense opposition.

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