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Protecting the climate by conserving the forests. Is called REDD, an acronym that stands for "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation" (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). Deforestation is responsible for around one fifth of global greenhouse emissions. The idea is to provide incentives in order to make more "convenient" to protect the forests than to log them.
Unfortunately, REDD is based on financial dynamics, and where money is involved, vested interests and corruption can to play a major role. Some rich countries plan to use the REDD to continue to emitting carbon. Multinational companies are now exploring the new business opportunity of carbon sequestration, and REDD culd lead to massive land grabs. Idigenous peoples protected the forest for centuries, now unscrupulous companies plan to profit from REDD by expelling an indigenous people from their forest to acquire legal title over it. Even logging companies want to obtain subsidies for logging the forests, instead as protect them. It is also the case of trees plantations expansion, one of the major cause of tropical deforestation. Research is increasingly showing that attributing a price to forest carbon will not be enough to save the forests or protect the climate: the profits coming from forest conversion for biofuel plantations are much higher than the carbon incentives to forest conservation. Research is also questioning the effectiveness of carbon market approach. Cabon markets mechanisms allow to buy and sell permits to emit CO2 (allowances and carbon credits). Carbon markets in fact do not bring about the changes needed to keep fossil fuels in the ground, allowing polluters to buy their way out of reducing their emissions.
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Impact of land use activity in the Amazon Basin |
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Wednesday, 01 February 2012 09:27 |
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A new paper published in journal Nature reveals that human land use activity has begun to change the regional water and energy cycles - the interplay of air coming in from the Atlantic Ocean, water transpiration by the forest, and solar radiation - of parts of the Amazon basin. In addition, it shows that ongoing interactions between deforestation, fire, and climate change have the potential to alter carbon storage, rainfall patterns and river discharge on an even larger basin-wide scale.
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Cutting down forests for biomass fuel |
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Tuesday, 31 January 2012 09:28 |
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In theory, burning biomass (any kind of plant material) to derive energy is a carbon-neutral endeavor, meaning that the carbon dioxide released during the process is in turn absorbed by other plants and put to use in photosynthesis—and as such does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Biomass is also flexible: It can be turned into ethanol to power up automobiles, or can be burned like coal to generate heat and/or electricity. Factor in that biomass feedstock is usually inexpensive, widely available and a seemingly perfect alternative to the carbon-spewing, foreign-derived fossil fuels we rely on so much these days.
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Africa's rainforests more resilient to climate change |
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Monday, 09 January 2012 09:00 |
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Tropical forests in Africa may be more resilient to future climate change than the Amazon and other regions, a gathering of scientists has said. An international conference agreed that the region's surviving tree species had endured a number of climatic catastrophes over the past 4,000 years. As a result, they are better suited to cope with future shifts in the climate. The event at the University of Oxford looked at the "fate of Africa's tropical forests in the 21st Century". Conference organiser Yadvinder Malhi, professor of ecosystems at the university, said the main reason was that Africa's climate had been far more variable than, say, the Amazon or South-East Asia, even over the past 10,000 years.
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U.N. opens door to REDD market mechanism |
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Monday, 12 December 2011 11:48 |
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The U.N. on Sunday adopted rules that open the door for a market mechanism that could allow private investors to finance projects that stop deforestation, a move that could potentially see billions of private sector dollars invested in forestry in poor countries. The text, agreed after days of wrangling in Durban, South Africa, said market-based approaches to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) “could be developed” by the annual U.N. climate summit.
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