Summary:
In September 2009, world leaders gathered for a climate change summit at the UN to work on a global climate change treaty. The treaty will involve almost 200 countries and should hopefully be completed by December. Due to alarming deforestation rates that contribute to nearly 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions, the focus will be on protecting tropical forests through a provision called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, or REDD. The revolutionary idea is to make carbon dioxide stored in forests a commodity. By making it a commodity, or something that can be bought and sold, countries with high pollution can offset their emissions by purchasing credits for stored carbon dioxide. This would create incentive for developing countries to protect their forests because they would have more value when protected than logged. The beauty of this solution is that it not only helps to protect biodiversity and slow down climate change, but it also helps development of poorer countries. Although there is some debate as to whether or not countries without major deforestation problems should be allowed credits, policy makers are hopeful that a global-scale program can be enacted in the next few years.
Reflection:
This idea really excited me. Unfortunately, many of our largest tropical forests, such as the Amazon in Brazil, are in countries that are still developing. Lack of education and issues of poverty drive locals to take resources from their tropical forests rather than protect them. Unfortunately, in many regions a financial incentive is needed to make conservation a priority. I was very disappointed that the United States did not sign the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the world's first global climate change agreement, as 184 other countries did. We contribute nearly 1/3 of all greenhouse emissions and I am optimistic that Obama will work with other world leaders to find a plan that works.
Evidence:
- "Every year, tropical forests equal to an area the size of England are destroyed, contributing about 20 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions - more than all the world's cars, trucks and airplanes combined."
- "The strategy "is more about development than about the environment and it will help us to accelerate infrastructural development to fill the budget gap," Jagdeo [President of Guyana] said in an August 29 speech."
- "While local projects exist in rain forest countries such as Madagascar, it would take time and money to expand them."
- What countries are already doing this and do what extent?
- When did this idea first originate and what were the obstacles to get it to happen?
Source:
Cohen, Tom. "Climate change proposal would revolutionize value of forests." CNN 22 Sept. 2009.
