Three basins threat report

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Context

• Tropical forests face threats from fossil fuel, mining, and extractive industry expansion.
• As delegates of the Summit of the Three Basins congregate in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo to strengthen South-South governance for three ecosystems Amazon, Congo, Borneo-Mekong, and Southeast Asia a global report showed that large parts of tropical forests in these areas remain threatened by fossil fuel, mining and extractive industry expansion.

Details

The Three Basins Threat Report

• A global report, “The Three Basins Threat Report: Fossil Fuel, Mining, and Industrial Expansion Threats to Forests and Communities,” has been compiled by the research and advocacy group Earth Insight and other non-profits.
• This report underscores the challenges confronting the world’s remaining tropical forest basins.
• These basins are grappling with extensive forest loss, heading towards a systemic ecosystem breakdown.
• This deterioration jeopardizes global climate stability, biodiversity, and the livelihoods of millions of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Forests in Risk

• The following are some of the report's key findings:
• Nearly 20% of these basins' pristine tropical forests are now under active or potential oil and gas concessions.
• Approximately 25% of the Amazon and Congo basins are subject to existing or potential mining concessions.
• Nearly half of all nickel concessions in Indonesia overlap with natural forests, posing a fivefold risk of deforestation and degradation if nickel mining permits are expanded.
• These developments have a direct impact on nearly 200 million people, a sizable number of whom are indigenous and local populations.

The Call for Action

• The report urges international leaders to commit to preserving the forests of the Three Basins.
• It emphasizes the importance of putting Indigenous peoples and local communities at the core of Three Basins Initiative solutions.
• Tyson Miller, Executive Director of Earth Insight, highlights the importance of prompt action, encouraging policymakers to impose a ban on industrial activities in primary and intact forests.
• This, he claims, will make place for new financial and long-term solutions that balance economic growth with ecological boundaries.

The Amazon Basin: An Important Ecosystem

• The challenges in the Amazon basin are severe.
• Almost 13% of unspoiled tropical forests overlap with existing or proposed oil and gas blocks, and more than 33% connect with active and inactive mining concessions.
• Over 500 unique Indigenous ethnicities live in the Amazon, and Indigenous Territories cover over 31 million hectares within oil and gas blocks.
• Furthermore, more than 70 million hectares are shared by active and dormant mining concessions.
• Fany Kuiru Castro, General Coordinator of the Amazon Basin Confederation, calls for immediate action to secure 80 percent protection by 2025.
• This includes halting deforestation, forest degradation, and polluting of critical water supplies.

Southeast Asia and the Congo Basin

• More than 39 percent of undisturbed Tropical Moist Forests in the Congo basin overlap with oil and gas blocks, and roughly 27 percent intersect with mining concessions.
• These expansions risk Indigenous pygmy cultures and the future of other unique and endangered peoples.
• Nearly 20% of Southeast Asia's unspoiled Tropical Moist Forests are within oil and gas blocks allocated for production or exploration.
• Indonesia, in particular, suffers difficulties with extractive concessions such as palm oil, mining, logging, and energy forests.
• The expansion of nickel mining concessions poses a substantial risk of deforestation.

A Conservation Pleading

• Timer Manurung, Executive Director of the Indonesian non-profit Auriga Nusantara, emphasizes the necessity of preserving natural forests and the communities they sustain.
• The Summit will be attended by heads of state, official delegations, government representatives, international institutions, donors, finance organizations, and specialists from October 26 to 28.
• President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo has called for worldwide mobilization in response to the global environmental and climate emergency.
• The Summit of the Three Tropical Forest Basins, launched in 2011, highlights the importance of collaboration among the countries that share these essential ecosystems.