On a recent hiking expedition with my son, my paternal instincts kicked in as I saw him about to cross under a beautiful, but dead tree, hanging delicately above the forest floor, looking as if it may come crashing down at any time.
“Stop!” I screamed. My son, puzzled, turned around and stared at me concerned. As I approached him and started explaining the reason for my outburst, I took in more of this magnificent scene (sadly my photos don’t do it justice). The sprawling tree trunk was twisted with age, and had a green mossy sheen to it. It seemed like it had been hanging, suspended in time, for all who pass by to bear witness to its demise. But, to my surprise – the tree was not dead! It was alive and seemed to be thriving! Unbelievable really, as this tree is growing almost parallel to the ground for the most part, and then journeys skywards, chasing the life giving rays of the sun.
I have been on my fair share of walks in the forests, but I have never seen this kind of extreme flexibility from a mature tree. I walked away thinking about how resilient nature can be.
I write this piece today as a reflection of a seemingly parallel experience, compared to what I have been digesting in the news these past couple of weeks, which is really incredibly worrying.
Firstly, we’ve been reminded that forest fires in Southeast Asia are still a threat to people and the environment. We saw a rise in hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, and to a lesser extent in certain states in Malaysia. In early August 2019, Indonesia declared a state of emergency in some provinces. The wet weather in the past few days helped put out some fires.
Personally, that was a reprieve.
Then,… the news came from Brazil! The Amazon rainforest, rightly known as the “Lungs of the World”, has tragically been burning at a record rate for about three weeks now. São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, plunged into darkness in the middle of the day due to smoke from fires 3000 km away!.
Never thought I would live to hear news of the haze enveloping a city so far away from Asia!
This tragic news comes on the heels of recent news that deforestation rates in Brazil are increasing significantly. Some say encouraged by the new policies of its latest government.
So the forest fires are raging from Asia to South America. I thought it couldn’t get any worse. How wrong I was!
Catching up on my reading yesterday, I realised that there are huge fires in the arctic as well! In fact, the Arctic is experiencing its worst fire season ever.
A perfect storm, I thought. Fires along the equator and at the top of the world.
To me, the fires in the Arctic are the most terrifying. In case you didn’t know, much of the soil in the arctic is peat. So the carbon emissions released into the atmosphere will be huge. And this exacerbates the already rapidly melting ice in the polar cap. All this could potentially generate a series of events that leads to what scientists call a ‘negative feedback loop’. In layman’s term; bad news generating more bad news… FASTER! thegreenmarketoracle.com
So, is it all bad news?
The good news is – it’s not all bad! Why/how?
Good news #1 – The next generation is rising up
In the last weeks and months we have seen the rise of youths, who are collectively raising their voices and making their presence felt. They are holding us all accountable for our actions. I am in awe when I listen to the likes of Greta Thunberg and Bella Lack. I don’t think there’s a policy maker on this planet who can meet them head on and walk away unscathed by the encounter.
However, in these two young ladies mentioned, you can see quite clearly their sense of desperation and frustration at the lack of urgency and efficiency in which we are dealing with the world’s biggest problem. Climate change.
Good news #2 – Positive impact is happening
Our analysis shows that RSPO certified plantations have far less fires and hotspots, compared to non certified plantations. This is based on the weekly hotspot monitoring by our GIS colleagues.
I attribute this to our members’ responsiveness in tackling fires within their concessions, and to the increased transparency from the publication of our members’ maps online. I recall that in 2013, when we started to monitor fire alerts, there were frustrations in trying to understand where the fires were in relation to our members. The anonymity that existed in the past in this sector is no longer available. All credit goes to our grower members, who decided to up their game and be more transparent. Many are now extending help beyond their plantation boundaries to provide assistance in preventing or mitigating wildfires.
It would seem that our efforts, since 2013, to add transparency on concession maps, has had an inspirational effect. We have heard, unofficially, that some governments may make concession maps public too. Not only for oil palm plantations but also other land use.
I am certain that if all these maps are published, the severity of the fires will be greatly reduced. And we would have increased our chances to mitigate climate change.
On the topic of climate change, in case you missed it, the results of an interesting research paper has just been released: “Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of RSPO Certified and Non-Certified Palm Oil”. And the results should give you a little more faith that we may be able to turn things around if we all make a concerted effort.
Firstly, the study concludes that RSPO certified plantations have a 35% lower impact on climate change compared to non-certified plantations! This means that the sector can realistically and significantly reduce its impact on climate change. Probably, one of the few global commodities that can do so!
Second, RSPO certified plantations have a 20% lower biodiversity impact from land use change compared to non-certified plantations.
This brings me to my closing.
Resilience: nature vs human
In case you had any doubts; nature is extremely resilient. Nature, if left on it’s own, will recover. It is us that won’t.
The tree I saw across the hiking trail has shown tremendous flexibility, but eventually, it will fall. And I hope no human happens to walk under it at that time.
But all is not lost. Humans are innovative, creative, and ambitious! Us humans can turn this current grave situation around, if we harness all that ambition and fuel it with innovation and creativity.
I believe that RSPO can be a part of that fuel. In fact, as I’ve just mentioned, independent research has given us the credibility to do so. And I am proud to be a part of an organisation whose members are constantly looking for solutions despite the daunting challenges we all face.
Let’s remind ourselves that we must engage with the youths of today. Let’s inform them of the solutions we’ve arrived at. Let’s invite them for their ideas. Our generation and theirs must keep pushing for real and sustainable solutions, together.