Carbon markets 'could save' tropical forests
Financial incentives 'could help' tropical rainforests
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Tuesday, 24, Oct 2006 01:10
Financial incentives could play a vital role in preventing the increase in the destruction of the world's declining tropical forests, according to the World Bank (WB).
The organisation, which provides financial and technical assistance to the world's developing countries, has issued a report calling for steps to be taken to improve the economic prospects of people relying on the forests for their survival.
According to the WB, roughly 800,000 people live in or around vulnerable forests or woodlands, yet this way of life is being threatened by deforestation at five per cent a decade.
Deforestation is also contributing to 20 per cent of annual carbon dioxide emissions and is "seriously threatening" biodiversity.
Katherine Sierra, vice president of sustainable development at the WB, said: "Now is the time to reduce pressures on tropical forests through a comprehensive framework that integrates sustainable forest management into the global strategy for mitigating climate change and preserving biodiversity."
The WB's report, At Loggerheads? Agricultural Expansion, Poverty Reduction and Environment in the Tropical Forests, argues that carbon finance - where compensation is given in return for not destroying forests, could be a "powerful incentive".
In Latin America dense tropical forest is often cleared to create pastures worth as little as £300 a hectare, yet the WB argues that the forests would be worth more both environmentally and financially if they were left standing.
"Compensation for avoiding deforestation could help developing countries to improve forest governance and boost rural incomes, while helping the world at large to mitigate climate change more vigorously," said Francois Bourguignon, chief economist and senior vice president of development economics at the WB.
Reducing climate change is coming under the spotlight on an international scale at present as ministers from governments worldwide are preparing to meet in Nairobi next month for United Nations talks on global warming.