Coordinated effort needed to cut deforestation via carbon markets
mongabay.com
November 18, 2008
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The Coalition for Rainforest Nations — a group of 40 tropical countries seeking compensation in the form of carbon credits for protecting their forest cover — will ask the United Nations at next month’s climate conference in Poland to establish a single body to coordinate forest carbon trading, reports Reuters from a workshop on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) meeting in Milan, Italy.
Currently the process for establishing “carbon conservation” projects is somewhat haphazard, although it is improving as more projects come online. The effort got a boost today with the unveiling of the Voluntary Carbon Standards — a new set of criteria for certifying carbon credits from forestry projects.
Reuters also reported that Peter Zapfel from Environment Directorate General at the European Commission “told the conference the potential forest credit market under the REDD scheme would cover 6 gigatons [billion tons] of annual carbon emissions,” but that an alternative proposal floated by the Commission world to establish a Global Forest Carbon Mechanism that would compensate tropical countries for reducing their emissions from deforestation. Funds would come from from a share of the revenue generated through the auctioning of carbon emissions permits. He noted “the EU’s council of ministers and parliament were likely to back the Commission’s proposal.”
The International Workshop on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation was organized by Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Italy, and the Environmental Defense Fund, USA. Presentations are available at FEEM.it.