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Could A Forest Be Worth More Than A Gold Mine?

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  • Could A Forest Be Worth More Than A Gold Mine?

    COULD A FOREST BE WORTH MORE THAN A GOLD MINE?
    David Braun

    National Geographic
    October 19, 2011

    Jason Sohigian of the Armenia Tree Project discussed "redefining our
    economic systems" at the 2011 TEDx Yerevan conference held at the
    new Tumo Center for Creative By Kara Marston

    Yerevan, Armenia-As Armenia was celebrating twenty years of
    independence in September, local and international experts came
    together to discuss youth, maturity, and transitions at the TEDx
    Yerevan event on September 24, 2011.

    The twenty speakers came from diverse backgrounds, including a former
    U.S. ambassador, a correspondent for Bloomberg and ABC News, renowned
    artists, photographers, and intellectuals.

    Among them was Jason Sohigian, Deputy Director of the Armenia Tree
    Project (ATP). National Geographic NewsWatch profiled ATP in 2010.

    Sohigian's presentation raised the question "could a forest be worth
    more than a gold mine," which was intended to stir some controversy
    because the country's economy is heavily dependent on extractive
    industries like copper and gold mining.

    According to recent valuation estimates, the answer may be yes.

    Sohigian focused on forests and didn't go into specifics for mining,
    presumably because of the emphasis on short ten minute talks for
    the TEDx format, but his point came through and got a few of the
    invitation-only guests asking for more information.

    [TEDx-Yerevan-stage-photo.jpg]

    Forest cover in Armenia has declined from 25 percent at the turn of the
    20th century to less than 8 percent today based on satellite data, and
    the country's Red Book of Endangered Plants and Animals is two volumes
    and more than 950 pages long, noted Sohigian. In addition, the South
    Caucasus region is one of the world's most endangered "hotspots for
    biodiversity," which makes the region worthy of such global attention.

    This issue is of particular importance because of the vast range of
    values a forest can provide to this small landlocked country. Here,
    forests provide building material, food products, firewood, scenic
    beauty, protection of topsoil, and habitat for plants and other
    wildlife including the endangered Caucasian Leopard.

    Furthermore, Armenia relies on hydropower for more than a third of
    its energy, and Sohigian pointed out that a nation's strategic water
    resources can be protected by improved forest management strategies.

    While forests are still often undervalued and overexploited, Sohigian
    emphasized, the concept of sustainability has evolved and gained
    momentum in the business community. Harvard Business Review summarized
    these developments on three fronts: "First, 'prices' are now being
    calculated for many things that had been considered priceless; second,
    capital is flowing into companies known to manage those costs well; and
    third, indices are being established that allow disparate contributors
    in a supply chain to converge on sustainability standards."

    As prices are now being calculated for things formerly considered
    priceless, UNEP's program on The Economics of Ecosystems and
    Biodiversity, or TEEB, recently estimated that temperate forest have
    a range of values between U.S.$30 and $5,000 per hectare per year.

    This estimate would make Armenia's forests worth between $7 million
    and more than $1 billion per year.

    If the value of Armenia's forests could be worth more than $1 billion
    a year, is this worth protecting? Sohigian ended his presentation
    with a call to "redefine our economic systems" to do three things:
    understand the true value of "natural capital" and forests;
    understand our relationship with nature, at both the individual
    and at the economic level; and finally, save money by investing in
    natural like forests, especially in places like Armenia where it can
    be critically endangered.

    He quoted from the environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:It's
    really a matter of thinking in the long-term about our national wealth,
    rather than of treating the earth and its resources as if it's "a
    business in liquidation."


    From: Baghdasarian
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