At a side meeting of the Bali climate change conference today, Greenpeace launched
a new proposal that will encourage and reward countries for reducing emissions
from deforestation. It's long, complex and full of acronyms but with forest
destruction responsible for around one-fifth of our greenhouse gas emissions,
it could represent one of the best chances we have of slashing global emissions.
It tackles a subject which is a big stumbling block in attempts to stop deforestation: money. There's not enough of it, at least not in the right places. Most countries with large tracts of forest, such as Indonesia, Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are still developing and see them as sources of much-needed finance. Even though the link between deforestation and climate change is now being widely acknowledged, these governments rarely have funds available to protect their forests.
