|
About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Subscribe |
|
|
How much would it cost to end Amazon deforestation? mongabay.com January 27, 2008
According to estimates by the Woods Hole Research Institute (WHRC), reducing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to nearly zero within a decade would cost $100 million to $600 million per year under a program involving carbon credits for forest conservation (REDD). These figures are lower than the opportunity cost of foregone profits from deforestation-dependent agriculture and ranching and Brazil would see many benefits including:
Carbon emissions in Brazil
REDD WHRC's analysis is dependent on REDD, a carbon credit regime that won preliminary approval at the U.N. climate talks in Bali this past December. REDD, which stands for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation, offers a mechanism for compensating tropical countries for reducing deforestation rates — and associated carbon emissions — below an established historical baseline. In other words, countries are effectively awarded carbon credits for protecting their forests. These credits can be sold as certified offsets global markets. Factoring in REDD, WHRC pegs the average opportunity cost of forest protection for 94 percent of Brazilian Amazon forest at US$3 per ton of carbon, suggesting that over the first 30 years of the program, deforestation in the Amazon would be reduced by 490,000 square kilometers and approximately 6 billion tons of carbon emissions would be avoided at a cost of $8 billion. The program would double the income of 200,000 forest-dwelling families as well as impoving health and education in the region. Private landownders would also see compensation for preserving forest cover on their land. "The report is designed to quantify what it would cost to compensate fairly those stakeholders who have a fair and just claim for compensation in moving toward zero deforestation," Dr Daniel Nepstad, a senior scientist at WHRC and lead author of the study, told mongabay.com. "carbon credits through REDD will provide a major economic incentive to leave forests standing. " Daniel C. Nepstad, et al (2007). "Brazil: The costs and benefits of reducing carbon emissions from the Brazilian Amazon region" in Final Report to The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation From The Woods Hole Research Center: Linking Climate Policy with Development Strategy in Brazil, China, and India. November 15, 2007
Tags: amazon brazil rainforest agriculture rainforests forests latin america south america threats to the rainforest threats to the amazon logging cattle ranching Amazon Deforestation rainforest destruction amazon destruction economics biofuels agriculture environmental economics forest fires deforestation environment green News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
|
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 
Photos HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS 
CALENDARS 
CANVAS BAGS 
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright mongabay 2010 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant. |
