Changes in Land Use, Changes in Climate

From an articleby Emilio Godoy posted on IPS News:

MEXICO CITY, Dec 2 (Tierramérica) - The countries of Latin America have failed to design integrated policies to control the processes of changes in land use, one of the causes of climate change. The region produces 12 percent of the world's emissions of greenhouse gases, which are driving up the planet’s average temperatures and changing the climate around the globe.

Half of the emissions are the result of deforestation, with Brazil and Mexico leading the region in terms of climate-changing pollutants.

"Latin America needs regional integration to combat deforestation," Brazilian Senator Renato Casagrande told Tierramérica.

Change in land use was one of the main issues taken up by 77 lawmakers from across the region at a meeting of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) that ended Nov. 23 in the Mexican capital.

The event, sponsored by the Mexican Congress, the World Bank, the Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development (COM+) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), marked the launch of the International Commission on Land Use Change and Ecosystems.

"We hope that the Commission provides a clear set of measures that national parliaments can adopt through regulations, fiscal incentives or laws," said Casagrande. "That way we can advance towards an economic system that foments a sustainable use of the land."

In their 16-point declaration, the lawmakers stated that deforestation should be a priority in environmental action plans, especially considering the effective and low-cost opportunities associated with the measures and the important parallel benefits for local communities and biodiversity.

Not only does deforestation contribute to climate change, but deforested land can smother the ocean wtih eroded silt, as decribed in an entry on Mongabay.com:

As the suspended particles reach the ocean, the water becomes cloudy, causing regional declines in coral reefs, and affecting coastal fisheries. The loss of coral reefs worldwide, often labeled the rainforests of the sea, is especially distressing to scientists because of their tremendous diversity and the important services they provide. Coastal fisheries are affected not just by the loss of coral reefs and their communities, but by the damage inflicted on mangrove forests by heavy siltation.