Nurturing Forests, Peatlands Will Attack Global Warming -UNEP
PARIS (AFP)--Fixing deforestation, preserving peatlands and ending reckless
agricultural methods could be a major weapon in tackling climate change, the
U.N. Environment Programme said Friday.
Biological systems, if responsibly managed, can absorb billions of tons of the
dangerous carbon gases that fuel the greenhouse effect, the agency said in a
report coinciding with World Environment Day.
Trees and plants suck in carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, through
photosynthesis.
But this natural "sponge" is being damaged by deforestation and agricultural
use, which releases the stored carbon to the air.
Around 20% of annual greenhouse-gas emissions are imputable to logging,
farming and burning of peatlands, according to scientists.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said major countries had earmarked tens
of billions of dollars in investments in carbon capture and storage technology,
by which CO2 is siphoned off at power stations and then pumped underground or
under the sea.
"But perhaps the international community is overlooking a tried-and-tested
method that has been working for millennia - the biosphere," he said.
"By some estimates, the Earth's living systems might be capable of
sequestering more than 50 gigatonnes (50 billion tons) of carbon over the coming
decades with the right market signals."
The report touched on areas that are up for debate in talks to craft a new
global pact on climate change. The accord, scheduled to be sealed in Copenhagen
in December, will be take effect from the end of 2012.
Separately, a study published in a science journal said the future pact, by
incorporating an innovative mechanism, could deal a blow to tropical
deforestation while also preserving precious biodiversity.
The paper looked at the scenarios by which this proposed mechanism, called
Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, or REDD, could work.
Under REDD, countries that conserve their tropical forests and tackle
deforestation would earn credits for reduced emissions. These credits would be
sold on an international carbon market, or compensated through an international
fund.
But REDD is making slow progress in the U.N. talks, amid worries about its
cost and how it would work in practice.
The paper, published in the journal Conservation Letters, looked at how REDD
could apply in the case of 3.3 million hectares of forest in Indonesia's Borneo
that is threatened by planned palmoil plantations.
If CO2 credits could be sold for $10-$33 a ton, it would be profitable to keep
the forest rather than clear it for oil palm, according to the study, lead-
authored by Oscar Venter, a biologist at the University of Queensland in
Australia.
Conserving the forest at the same time would prevent 2.1 billion tons of
carbon from entering the atmosphere and also preserve the habitat of orangutans,
pygmy elephants and other threatened species.
"Payments made to reduce carbon emissions from forests could also be an
efficient and effective way to protect biodiversity," said Venter.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-04-092055ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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