Preventing Tropical Deforestation
How Can Tropical Deforestation Be Prevented?
Tropical deforestation is a major cause of global warming, releasing about 20 percent of the world’s heat-trapping emissions.
REDD, which stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest degradation in Developing countries, is an innovative approach to protecting tropical forests. REDD was proposed by developing countries, led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, at the international climate negotiations in 2005. Their proposal has been gaining momentum since then as a very affordable way to reduce global warming pollution. It could not only help reduce heat-trapping emissions, but could support sustainable development in the world’s tropical nations.
The basic idea behind REDD is that tropical countries would be compensated if they reduced their emissions of global warming pollution due to tropical forest clearing. This would be verified by technology that now exists to monitor emissions from deforestation using remote sensing (e.g. satellite photos). There would be a strict set of criteria developed to certify the reductions made by tropical countries. Once programs were successful and reductions were certified, the countries would become eligible for monetary compensation.
REDD is a very affordable way to reduce the amount of global warming pollution released into the atmosphere. In order to create an economic incentive for developing nations to reduce the clearing of their tropical forests, they would need to be paid more than they could make by using the newly cleared land for other activities like establishing cattle pastures or growing crops. The cost paid per ton of global warming pollution prevented would be considerably less than what it costs to prevent the same amount of global warming pollution from industries in the U.S. or Europe. Using REDD policies, we can greatly reduce tropical deforestation, and thus reduce global warming, with modest funding.
