International support is needed to help forest nations reduce deforestation and make the forest sector carbon neutral, a new report for the prime minister has concluded.
Public and private sector funding is needed in the short to medium term to help support communities reliant on rainforests, with the forest sector integral to carbon markets in the long term, according to the Climate Change: Financing Global Forests review by Gordon Brown’s special representative on deforestation Johan Eliasch.
It is estimated the cost of capacity building for 40 forest nations over a five-year period would be around US$4bn. This support would help forest nations halve deforestation by 2020 and make the forest sector carbon neutral (emissions from forest loss balanced by new forest growth) by 2030.
“Deforestation will continue as long as cutting down and burning trees is more economic than preserving them,” said Mr Eliasch.
“Access to finance from carbon markets and other funding initiatives will be essential for supporting forest nations to meet this challenge.”
The review also concluded that post-Kyoto discussions must include reducing emissions from deforestation as part of efforts to tackle climate change, although Greenpeace has said this recommendation “will give a green light to companies to use forest protection abroad as a cheap alternative to making the dramatic cuts in the industrial and energy sectors that we need here in the UK”.
