Activists announce support for carbon trading
Environmentalists announce support for carbon trading
mongabay.com
September 14, 2007
A coalition of environmental groups announced it will support the development of carbon trading policies that help protect tropical rainforests and other important ecosystems, noting that “conservation alone has proven no match for commerce.”
The effort — known as the Forests NOW Declaration and coordinated by the Global Canopy Programme — calls for a series of carbon policies and market reforms to “incentivize the protection of tropical forests and safeguard the vital services they provide including capture and storage of carbon dioxide.” The declaration, signed by leaders from the indigenous, NGO and scientific communities, will be formally presented at U.N. climate talks in Bali in December where participants hope to develop a global framework on carbon credits for forest conservation. Organizers note that though deforestation accounts for greater carbon emissions than the entire global transport network, there is presently no legal mechanism or incentive to reduce emissions from forest clearing.
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“Global markets for cows and coffee have been driving deforestation. The measures called for in this Declaration offer an opportunity to compete head to head with the money a country can make elsewhere – while protecting forests. We absolutely must do this if we are serious about climate stability,” said Kevin Conrad, Ambassador of Environment and Climate Change for Papua New Guinea and Executive Director of the 30-member Coalition for Rainforest Nations.
“We need a mechanism that will assist people in developing countries, certainly in Africa, to protect their standing forests and plant trees, to protect their soil, protect biodiversity and protect livelihoods while reducing carbon emissions for everyone,” added Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Founder of the Green Belt Movement.
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