HOW much is a rainforest worth? That鈥檚 the question a group of 10 developing nations have posed at international climate negotiations this week. They want rich countries to help shoulder the cost of conserving forests.
The Kyoto protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions provides incentives for planting new forests to soak up carbon dioxide, in the form of 鈥渃arbon credits鈥� that can be offset against emissions. But the newly formed Coalition for Rainforest Nations, headed by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, argue they should also get carbon credits for protecting existing natural forests too.
鈥淚f we do not recognise the value of these forests, they will be cut,鈥� says Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Costa Rica鈥檚 environment minister.
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The proposal came as 190 governments gathered in Montreal, Canada, to finalise the Kyoto rule book, and to begin discussions on what should replace it after 2012. Simon Counsell of the London-based Rainforest Foundation backs the idea, but warns that much deforestation is illegal. 鈥淲hat will rich countries do if, having agreed to finance rainforest protection in return for carbon credits, the illegal destruction continues?鈥� he says.
