mongabay.com logo About  |   Contact  |  Mongabay on Facebook  |  Mongabay on Twitter  |  Free newsletter
Rainforests | Tropical fish | Environmental news | Blog | For kids | Madagascar | Photos | Non-English languages | Tropical Conservation Science
SHARE:
print


U.S. pledges $275M to rainforest conservation
mongabay.com
November 20, 2009



The U.S. pledged $275 million to a efforts to reduce deforestation in developing countries, reports Reuters.

The commitment was announced by U.S. Ambassador Louis Susman during an event hosted by Prince Charles. The pledge was made in a letter from Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, chair of the US Senate Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, to Prince Charles.

The letter stated the funds are "to protect biodiversity and support sustainable landscapes in fiscal year 2010 ... with a focus on protection of tropical forests."


Tropical forest in Madagascar
According the Reuters, the money would come from the $1.2 billion international assistance fund, although it wasn't immediately clear how the funds would be dispersed. One possibility is the U.N. REDD Program, a proposed mechanism to compensate developing countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation.

The U.S. has lagged behind other rich-world nations in funding tropical forest conservation in recent years, especially Norway, which has committed more than a billion dollars to forest conservation efforts in Brazil, Guyana, Tanzania, and Congo Basin countries. The Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), the main mechanism by which the U.S. has funded tropical forest conservation, languished under the Bush Administration, which reduced funding while adding a coral reef conservation mandate, further diluting funds available for tropical forests. The most recent TFCA, passed in May 2009 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will provide up to $115 million in debt relief to tropical countries in exchange for commitments to conserve forests and coral reefs.





Related articles

Norway emerges as champion of rainforest conservation

(03/19/2009) While citizens in western countries have long paid lip service to saving rainforests, Norway has quietly emerged as the largest and most important international force in tropical forest conservation. The small Scandinavian country has committed 3 billion krone ($440 million) a year to the effort, a figure vastly greater than the $100M pledged — but never fully contributed — by the United States under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA). Norway now hopes it can help push to include forest conservation in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol by providing funding and fostering cooperation among international actors like the UN and World Bank, as well as developing countries, to fund the creation of an international architecture which makes it possible to incorporate deforestation and degradation into a post-2012 climate regime.


Kerry, Lugar: U.S. has opportunity to lead on climate, forest conservation

(02/10/2009) The United States can reassert itself as a global leader on the environment by supporting an initiative to fight climate change by protecting forests, said leaders from a broad range of political, environmental, development and business communities at a meeting on Capitol Hill Monday. Joined by senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar, the "Avoided Deforestation Partners" coalition called for Congress to include "strong tropical forest protection measures in U.S. climate change legislation" ahead of this December's climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.






CITATION:
mongabay.com (November 20, 2009). U.S. pledges $275M to rainforest conservation. http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1120-forests.html


Tags:
redd united states happy-upbeat environmental conservation rainforests forests avoided deforestation carbon finance carbon conservation green environment

print



Environmental news index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home


Advertisements:





Mongabay Store
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt
Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant t-shirts
Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog t-shirts
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog
Licking this frog may make you crazy t-shirts
Licking this frog may make you crazy




DON'T LIKE ADS? Become a mongabay supporter


WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Email:


RECENT FEATURES
As Amazon deforestation falls, food production risesAs Amazon deforestation falls, food production rises
Biggest environmental news stories of 2011Biggest environmental news stories of 2011
The year in review for rainforestsThe year in review for rainforests
Our top nature pictures of 2011Our top nature pictures of 2011


POPULAR PAGES
Rainforests
Rain forests
Amazon deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation stats
Why rainforests matter
Saving rainforests
Amazon rainforest
Congo rainforest
Deforestation data
Rainforest canopy

Special sections
New Guinea
Finding new species
Sulawesi
Madagascar
Borneo
REDD

News
Most popular articles
Worth saving?
Forest conservation
Cell phones in Africa
Seniors helping Africa
Saving orangutans in Borneo
Palm oil
Amazon palm oil
Future of the Amazon
Cane toads
Dubai environment
Investing to save rainforests
Visiting the rainforest
Biomimicry
Defaunation
Blue lizard
Extinction debate
Extinction crisis
Industrial deforestation
Save the Amazon
Rainforests & REDD
Brazil's Amazon plan
Avatar story
Amazon ranching

News topics
Amazon
Biofuels
Brazil
Carbon Finance
Conservation
Climate Change
Deforestation
Energy
Happy-upbeat
Indonesia
Interviews
Oceans
Palm oil
Rainforests
Wildlife
MORE TOPICS



Non-English Sites
Chinese
French
German
Indonesian
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
Other languages

Nature Blog Network







Photos
Brazil photos
Brazil

China photos
China

Colombia photos
Colombia

Costa Rica photos
Costa Rica

Deforestation photos
Deforestation

Gabon photos
Gabon

India photos
India

Indonesia photos
Indonesia

Kenya photos
Kenya

Madagascar photos
Madagascar

Peru photos
Peru

Peru photos
Rainforest



ABOUT
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

Help support mongabay.com when you buy from Amazon.com


CALENDARS



BOOKS BY MONGABAY AUTHORS
Rainforest book for kids Conservation in an age of mass extinction


FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER



HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS








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.