UK: Rich nations can save the rainforests with carbon trading
A report authored by John Eliasch, the UK's special representative on deforestation, says that "rich nations" and their slightly less deep pockets are the best hope for the world's rainforests over the next two decades. Carbon trading schemes, where wealthy nations would dole out about $33B to those along the equator, they say, can make it more profitable for nations to save their forests than to clear them for farming. In the context of today's financial crisis, where governments are tossing around hundreds of billions like it's nothing, $33B doesn't seem all that outrageous. The report calls for a system in which countries can earn carbon credits by chopping less trees than in previous years, then turn around and sell their credits to wealthy nations who want to keep spewing carbon. Critics of the plan say that the measure both underestimates the cost of slashing deforestation and the corruption these plans will encounter. Not to mention, it kinda gives rich nations a pass when it comes to carbon emissions.
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