New UN rules on anvil for saving tropical forests

It is a fact now accepted even by policy makers that the cutting down of tropical forests is a major contributor to climate change. By the end of this week, United Nations negotiators may finally set the rules for preserving these pristine forests.

If all goes according to plan, the UN 'framework convention on climate change' will establish a global mechanism allowing developing nations to receive financial compensation for curbing deforestation, which accounts for roughly 15 per cent of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Brazil, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are among the nations where forests are being cut to make way for expanded cattle grazing areas and the production of crops such as soybeans and palm oil.

Now the formal text on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, or REDD+, as it is known, is almost ready. It will help define how to measure deforestation over time and what social and environmental safeguards need to be in place.

"It is ripe for harvest," said Brazilian climate change ambassador Sergio Serra, whose country's greenhouse gas emissions stem largely from the destruction of the Amazon's forests. "It's there."

Environmentalists who have lobbied hard for the measure as a way to save some of the world's most biologically rich areas and to provide developing countries with a stake in conservation, say an agreement here will give both the public and private sectors a financial incentive to protect forests under pressure in Latin America, Asia and Africa.