An experiment in ‘net zero deforestation’ in Guatemala
看着太阳升起在危地马拉的蒂卡尔国家公园的寺庙困扰的热带雨林，这是很容易理解为什么乔治·卢卡斯选择它作为网站拍摄的丛林卫星Yavin 4in “Star Wars: Episode IV.” Brightly colored birds fly close to the canopy, strange insects buzz about and howler monkeys live up to their namesake.
树木主宰地平线，包括强大的木棉花 - 在超过200英尺森林的地面高于该塔 - 玛雅人的圣树。
But the otherworldly landscape is under threat by a very earth-bound problem: deforestation. Guatemala is experiencing one of the most rapid deforestation rates of any country, according to a 2010 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Across Guatemala’s Petén region, which stretches across the northern half of the country to the border with Mexico and Belize, agriculture is the primary driver of deforestation. Increasing international demand for sugar, palm oil and beef, as well as subsistence communities being pushed off their traditional land, are swiftly destroying the Maya Forest — the second-largest remaining tropical rainforest in the Americas.
In 2014, deforestation finally appeared tobecomea priority for businesses, with everyone seeming to want to jump on the tree-hugging bandwagon. “Zero deforestation” became a buzzword for a newfound corporate commitment to eliminating the systematic destruction of forests from global supply chains.
在九月，超过30家公司 - 包括亚洲浆纸,嘉吉和Unilever— joined hundreds of governments, businesses, NGOs and indigenous peoples' groups to标志纽约宣言森林，其目的是减半森林砍伐，到2020年和2030年完全结束。
With deforestation driving 17 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions,根据to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, halting it would be a major blow to global warming.
Encouraging as this may be, businesses would do well to take a step back and recognize a cold, hard truth: There’s no such thing as “zero deforestation.”
这是因为，只要世界需要林产品，它将涉及砍树。现在的问题不是是否会发生森林砍伐，但如果它会以一种可持续的方式来完成 - 这是可能实现“净零毁林”如果产品是从谁收获的森林以负责任的方式生产采购。
而这也使得商业意义 - 企业的近90％已经看到的方式，保护森林转变为可持续的采购重点商品的机会，说过CDP。
许多公司可能希望走自己的反毁林说话，但不知道怎么办。一看危地马拉就可以向他们的方式。
Sustainable forestry in Guatemala
危地马拉已经有企业利益胜过社会索赔土地，这导致了对人权和环境管理骇人记录一个漫长而动荡的历史。但时间可能会改变，这在很大程度上归功于对可持续森林产品的需求。
Tikal National Park is only one of eight core protected areas, a buffer zone and “multiple use” zones making up the more than 5 million acre Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) in Petén, established by the Guatemalan government in 1990 to safeguard the region’s biological and cultural diversity. Harvesting trees and other resources is illegal in the protected areas, but certain regulated economic activities are allowed in the buffer zone and “multiple use” zones.
An organization called the林业社区在佩滕协会（西班牙）(ACOFOP) initially lobbied the Guatemalan government to give the forest “concessions” — special permissions to extract forest resources — to the communities rather than private companies.
这不是一件容易的战斗，Marcedonio Cortave，ACOFOP的创始人和主任。许多人怀疑社区的能力，以可持续的方式管理的森林，并优先给予采伐权给私人公司，这被认为是更有能力管理森林和提供就业机会的。
After convincing the Guatemalan government to grant concessions to the communities instead, ACOFOP started virtually from scratch training communities to develop the organizational and business skills necessary for success.
To help identify international markets for forest products and ensure world-class sustainable forestry standards, ACOFOP partnered with the Rainforest Alliance to certify the concessions’ forestry operations to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards by theRainforest Alliance's SmartWood Program.
The case of Carmelita
卡梅莉塔是近300人从弗洛雷斯的佩滕的资本了三个多小时，只由伪劣土路访问的社区。由于特许权ACOFOP帮助他们安全，卡梅莉塔的人让他们的生活采伐木材和非木材森林产品，如xate（以插花常用），糖胶树胶（口香糖使用）和pimienta（洗剂使用）。
Timber extraction provides around 70 percent of the community’s revenue, mostly from valuable mahogany trees, which can sell for as much as $3,300 per tree. To avoid unsold timber, the community only cuts trees based on purchase order, and they cut a maximum of two trees per hectare (2.47 acres) to allow the forest to regenerate. FSC certification means they maintain a strict chain of custody that guarantees all lumber can be tracked to the source. Even the operation staging areas are cleared in such a way that they will be completely reclaimed by the forest within five years.
虽然高要求的产品，如红木比较容易在国际市场上出售，其他森林产品可以证明更加困难。
The people of Carmelita initially resisted the idea of harvesting xate, as it didn’t fetch a good price on international markets. Mexican farmers cultivate 95 percent of xate sold internationally, and Guatemalan xate long has been viewed as subpar. That is because xate harvesters in Guatemala would cut everything, focusing on quantity rather than quality.
然而，这开始改变多亏林业可持续发展。现在，仅收割机切健康的植物，并留在森林中无法使用的，这让xate人口再生。雨林联盟，例如，能说服在得克萨斯州一个买家给危地马拉社区提供可持续xate，这导致了越来越大的订单运行试验。
买家得知可持续性意味着品质，稳定可靠的电力供应。竞彩足球app怎么下载这种轮流为社区继续拥抱可持续林业管理创造了经济激励。
“这些社区都声称传统的权利，要加强对自然资源和土地所有权”，为雨林联盟TREES项目中美洲区域经理何塞·罗曼卡雷拉说。“如果我们真的想在社区的变化，我们必须改善他们的业务能力的工作。”
而社区管理模式的工作 - 在FSC认证的森林特许权的年均毁林率2002年和2007年之间，比这里的木材和非木材林产品采伐是被禁止在保护区内毁林率降低20倍，按到雨林联盟研究报告（PDF）.
The key to sustainable forest management in Guatemala is empowering communities to manage their own economic destinies by responsibly harvesting forest products and selling them on domestic and international markets. Local communities often are able to combine traditional knowledge with new technology to manage forests better than any company could.
In a country plagued by widespread and severe poverty — around 75 percent of Guatemalans live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank — involving communities in sustainable forest management also can provide a much-needed source of jobs for men and particularly women. This, in turn, can help reduce deforestation caused by subsistence agriculture.
对于世界各地的许多公司，客场净零砍伐森林将大约为困难的，因为一个从弗洛雷斯卡梅莉塔。但当地群众参与，以帮助保护地球（及其供应链），大家的利润。
Travel and accommodations for this reporting were provided by Rainforest Alliance.
