An International Network for Monitoring Canopy Biodiversity and Global Climate Change
PROJECT MISSION
In response to a call from the UN Convention on Biological Diversity the GCP proposes a strategic international network of 20 ‘Whole Forest Observatories’ (WFO’s), operating over 20 years to investigate the forest from above the canopy to the soil. Their purpose will be to monitor biodiversity and the impact of climate change. Ten such sites already exist and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have given their backing to a proposal to add five more in the tropics. Recent advances in forest canopy access methods, based on large construction cranes and balloons, now make it possible to launch such a global effort for the first time. These sites will become centres of excellence managed by universities and research centres, delivering vitally needed information to policy makers, Governments and the corporate sector. The initiative will combine research, conservation, education and community projects stretching from across temperate and tropical forests. It will create centres of innovation in environmental science and technology and launch the first major international programme to be focused on the forest canopy, the richest, least known and most threatened terrestrial habitat on earth.
WFO PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Developed in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme the project has the following key goals:
1. Establish 4-5 ‘whole forest observatories’ and demonstration projects in biodiversity rich countries.
2. Fill the current knowledge gap on the role of the forest canopy in maintaining the health of the earth.
3. Investigate the impact of climate change on canopy biodiversity and forest ecosystem services.
4. Demonstrate the value of canopy based ecotourism and horticulture in the provision of local community benefits.
5. Build capacity for training in canopy science in the participating countries.
6. Engage the growing global network of canopy research sites to support a public awareness campaign.
In order to understand how the forest ecosystem will function in response to climate change, it is vitally important to take into account the biodiversity and ecophysiology of the ‘whole forest’ from canopy to soil. This approach has been neglected in both research and conservation efforts due to difficulties of accessing the canopy. The ‘Whole Forest Observatory’ overcomes these difficulties by combing modern methods of canopy access.
HOW ARE WE AT RISK?
Scientists predict that 15-37% of species could be ‘committed to extinction’ by 2050 due to climate change. Many of these extinctions will be in the canopy and are likely to severely affect the stability of the forest ecosystem. 40% of all terrestrial species exist in forest canopies. Volatile organic compounds, a tree’s equivalent to human hormones, released from canopies, may be disrupted and no longer stimulate ‘green ocean clouds’ which increase rainfall patterns over forests. New research in the forest canopy is also suggesting that rising CO2 may be altering the way the forest functions which could increase flooding or drought and increase major vectors of plant disease. Rising CO2 may reduce in wood quality production forest and may also be influencing the synchrony between host tree flowering and their pollinators, so interrupting future reproduction in forests. It is possible that the entire biotic regulation function of the canopy could be disrupted, reducing carbon sequestration and so increasing the pace of global warming.
The project’s Phase I WFO sites will be located in the following proposed areas:
• Brazil: near Manaus in Amazonia and/or near Recife in the Mata Atlantica;
• Ghana: at Bobiri Forest Reserve, in the lowland forests of West Africa;
• Madagascar: at Ranomafana National Park in moist highland forests;
• India: in Kalakaad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in the wet forests of the Western Ghats;
• Malaysia: at Danum Valley in the northern tropical lowland wet forests of Sabah;
PROJECT ACTIVITIES – PHASE I
- Build on the existing network of 10 canopy cranes, currently sited largely in temperate forests, by adding 4-5 ‘whole forest observatories’ in tropical forests in the “biodiversity hotspots” of Brazil, Ghana, India, Malaysia and Madagascar and later in China.
- A harmonised suite of research projects at each site to investigate the interaction of whole forest biodiversity, ecosystem function and global climate change with outputs applicable to forest management and conservation.
- Twinned crane sites in temperate and tropical forests for transfer of technology and expertise.
- Canopy training courses to develop technical and scientific capacity for whole forest research and monitoring.
- Demonstrations of ‘canopy horticulture’ for the sustainable utilisation and farming of canopy epiphytes (orchids/bromeliads/ferns) for local community benefits.
- Demonstrations at the contribution of canopy ecotourism (walkways/ziplines/towers) to sustainable forest management, local livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
- Develop a global canopy information and early warning service to promote awareness, and to disseminate project results and services internationally to stakeholders.
HOW WILL THIS PROJECT HELP?
Following the GCP’s intervention, the Convention on Biological Diversity now recognizes the urgent need to tackle these issues and has called on Governments to support efforts to investigate forest canopies in its Workplan on Forests ratified at the Hague in April 2002. The proposed network will help to scale up studies of ecosystem process from the leaf crown, to regional and global scales so improving predictive models which drive much of current policy making. Such high quality information will improve assessments of risk, stimulate awareness and underpin decisions to act.
IN-COUNTRY COLLABORATORS
Brazil: Dr Antonio Nobre, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (INPA), Manaus; Dr Flavio Luizao, Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia, (LBA), Manaus.
Ghana: Professor Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Accra; Joseph Rexford Cobbina, Forest Research Institute of Ghana, FoRIG), Accra.
Madagascar: Dr Benjamin Andriamihaaja and Dr Patricia Wright, Madagascan Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments, l'Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protégées (ANGAP).
India: Professor Kamal Bawa, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore; Indian Council for Forest Research and Education (ICFRE).
Malaysia: Professor Datin Maryati Mohamed, Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, (ITBC), University of Malaysia (UMS), Kota Kinabalu, Sabah; Royal Society South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP).
FINANCING PLAN
The United Nations Environment Programme, with the financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for proposal development, has given its backing to this project. Existing baseline funding for canopy research in mainly western nations is running at c. $4.5 million/year. Tropical countries with most of the biodiversity, are underserved and urgently need extra capacity for investigating climate change impacts on their biodiversity. Approximately $4 million x 5 years is sought to fund this project. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been developing this proposal for a Full Scale Project (c. $17. million) project bid. 1/3 of these funds will be requested from the Global Environment Facility of the U.N 1/3 will be contributed by Governments and Institutions of Partner countries and 1/3 is being sought in co-financing support from major foundations and corporations with an interest in global climate change and biodiversity conservation.
