Leader
Monday December 10, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk
"Save the rainforests" is an easy slogan to agree with and a very
difficult one to put into practice, as delegates at the Bali climate
change conference are proving. Writing for the Guardian recently, Sir
Nicholas Stern put at the top of his wishlist for Bali an
"international programme to combat deforestation", and noted the
problem could be halved at an annual cost of $10bn. Creating a
mechanism to do this is the goal of everyone who thinks markets are the
best way to mitigate climate change. But putting one into effect has so
far proved impossible; it was not even attempted at Kyoto.
At Bali, hopes are pinned on an ambitious proposal known as reduced
emissions from deforestation and degradation (Redd). This does not aim
to stop all destruction of tropical forests. But it does suggest a way
of reducing the rate of their loss, which already accounts for around
20% of current emissions, more than transport. Indonesia, host to the
Bali conference, was declared by controversial research last year to be
the world's third-biggest polluter almost entirely because of
deforestation and especially the destruction of deep peat beds which
are among the richest carbon sinks on the planet. Replacing these with
low-value palm oil plantations is ecological and economic madness,
especially when it is done in the name of supposedly green biofuels.
Countries should be able to earn more from keeping trees than chopping
them down. Estimates suggest the destruction of forests brings economic
benefits to countries such as Indonesia and Peru of between $1-$5 per
tonne of carbon released. The market price of carbon credits in Europe
last week was $32. The problem is that any market must be both
universal and enforced. It is no good paying Indonesia to save forests
in Kalimantan if loggers simply move on to untouched forests in Papua
New Guinea. More than that, the benefits from saving them must be
shared. It would be unjust to send carbon cheques to national
governments, who may keep the money, exploiting the poor who are often
at the forefront of deforestation while still doing nothing to protect
forests.
Making sure countries live up to their promises will be hard. If Bali
achieves nothing else, it will have done its job if a framework for
Redd is agreed. Last week a report from the WWF warned that 60% of
Amazon forests could be lost by 2030. But it is not too late to save
what remains. Last month Guyana made a remarkable offer to Britain,
promising to lease all its standing trees - which include some of the
planet's last untouched forests - in return for aid. The British
government should grab this chance. The loss of forests is a dominant
threat to the world. And it can be stopped.
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