US Seen Open to Forestry Offsets in Climate Fight
US: October 9, 2008
NEW YORK – As it inches toward forming climate policy, the United States is more open to attempting to slow global warming through investments in tropical forests than the European Union is, a broker that works on forestry deals said.
“There’s been this kind of predisposition against forestry on the part of the EU,” Ross MacWhinney, a carbon markets analyst at energy brokers Evolution Markets LLC said at the Reuters Global Environment Summit in New York. “But I think that in the US legislators are looking at forestry as a lower-cost option.”
Clearance of forests to create farmland in developing countries emits nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, according to the UN’s climate science panel. Trees store the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide when they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt.
Year: 2008
Cities Should Do More to Protect Nature – UN
Cities Should Do More to Protect Nature – UN
SPAIN: October 9, 2008
BARCELONA, Spain – The world’s burgeoning cities must do more to safeguard animals and plants by increasing parkland, planting trees and recycling resources, the UN’s top biodiversity official said on Wednesday.
“The battle for life on earth will be won or lost in cities,” Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, told Reuters.
Cities cover just two percent of the planet’s land area but dictate 75 percent of the use of the world’s natural resources, he said. City dwellers have an impact far into the countryside, with rising demand for water and food.
Indonesia Papua Forests Seen Under Palm Oil Threat
Indonesia Papua Forests Seen Under Palm Oil Threat
INDONESIA: October 9, 2008
JAKARTA – Indonesia must do more to save pristine rainforests in Papua from destruction, particularly with plans to open up huge tracts of land to develop palm oil plantations, environmentalists said on Wednesday.
The rapidly expanding palm oil industry in Southeast Asia has come under attack by green groups for destroying rainforests and wildlife, as well the emission of greenhouse gases.
“Although the deforestation rate in Papua is still low, the threat is very high, for instance, with palm oil plantation expansion,” Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace said.
Forest CO2 Storage Plans Should Aid Poor – Alliance
Forest CO2 Storage Plans Should Aid Poor – Alliance
SPAIN: October 9, 2008
BARCELONA, Spain – Forest protection can help fight climate change but any UN-led projects must also ease poverty and safeguard rights of indigenous peoples, an international alliance said on Wednesday.
The group, spanning 250 representatives of business, trade unions, forestry companies, governments and local and indigenous peoples, laid down guidelines for an international drive to tap forests to help soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
Deforestation, with trees burnt to clear land for farming from the Amazon to the Congo, accounts for 20 percent of world emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. Trees store carbon dioxide as they grow and release it when they die.