A “carrot” approach to reducing deforestation is the route being favoured by decision-makers at the Climate Change Conference currently being held in Bali.
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convetion on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said the carrot route would involve looking at concerns of poor people with an economic stake in the issue and offering them a real economic alternative to cutting down trees.
The conference, which finishes on December 14, is expected to adopt a decision on reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries.
Kishan Kumarsingh, chairman of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, told a UNFCCC press briefing that the text under consideration recognised the urgency to take action on the issue and lay the groundwork for an early start to capacity-building activities and pilot projects in the countries.
It also addresses mobilisation of resources by governments as well as the methodological work needed to estimate emissions from deforestation.
Deforestation is estimated to have occurred at a rate of 12 million ha per year during 1990-2005.
