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Environment
Forestry initiative announced in Bali
World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick yesterday launched a groundbreaking financing mechanism to combat tropical deforestation and climate change at Bali climate meeting. The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) will reduce deforestation and forest degradation by compensating developing countries for carbon dioxide reductions realized by maintaining their forests.
Deforestation and forest degradation together are the second leading cause of global warming, responsible for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the main source of national emissions for countries such as Brazil and Indonesia. The FCPF will build the capacity of developing countries in tropical and subtropical regions to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and tap into a future system of positive incentives for REDD.
“This initiative is a practical pilot to expand the tools for Climate Change negotiations,” said World Bank President Zoellick. “The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility signals that the world cares about the global value of forests and is ready to pay for it. This can change the economic options for many people who depend on the forests for their livelihoods. There is now a value to conserving, not just harvesting the forest.”
Under the FCPF, resources can be used in any new climate change regime negotiated after 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends. The Kyoto Protocol currently does not give carbon finance incentives to developing countries for reducing deforestation and degradation—an issue under discussion at the climate change meetings in Bali, and which may become part of a post-2012 climate change regime
