Last week the United Nations launched a program by which developed nations will pay poorer nations to preserve their forests and plant new trees.
The goal of the program, called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Program, or UN-REDD, is to slow global climate change by reducing deforestation in developing countries like Bolivia, Indonesia and Zambia.
The cutting and burning of forests in these countries not only releases tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, but also reduces the earth’s potential for removing future CO2 emissions from the air.
UN-REDD currently allows nine tropical nations to generate tradable carbon credits by saving and planting trees. The U.N. estimates that Indonesia, for example, could be compensated up to $1 billion a year, if it reduces its deforestation level to 1 million hectacres a year.
The plan has been part of the ongoing negotiations to create a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Under the plan, rich nations will purchase the forest emissions credits, to help them meet their greenhouse gas reduction goals.
The initial phase of the program is being supported by a $35 million donation from Norway, which hopes to offset emissions from its growing natural gas export business.
Other countries that will be included in the first phase of the program include: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, United Republic of Tanzania and Viet Nam.
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