Rainforest credits 'are part of 360 degree solution to climate change'

Rainforest credits should be adopted as a means to reduce global carbon emissions – not just as a way of protecting carbon dioxide sinks but also in order to combat emissions directly caused by deforestation.

As the American congress considers using some of its emission allowances to create incentives to reduce deforestation in developing countries, Cool Earth commercial manager Ben Gray calls for a "360 degrees" solution to carbon emissions.

In an ideal world, says Mr Gray, it would be possible to stop carbon emissions altogether and the rainforest would then be protected for its other vital functions – creating rainfall patterns, protecting from fires and housing a vast variety of animal and plant species.

However, neither industry nor individuals look set to eliminate their carbon emissions, while deforestation is contributing almost a fifth to global carbon emissions as well - more than the entire transport sector.

Mr Gray points out that forest credits are not pitted against emission schemes, such as the European Emission Trading Scheme, that uses market forces to try and reduce emissions from industry.

Instead, he says: "The approach to solving this needs be 360 degrees, it's not a case of either preventing emissions from forest or from industry. Emissions are being produced from a variety of sources therefore we need to address all of these.

"In fact forestry emissions account for somewhere in the region of 17 per cent of all CO2 emissions, that puts forest just behind the US and China as the world's biggest source of carbon."

The draft of the Climate Change bill released by congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey, suggests five per cent of emission allowances issued from the Environmental Protection Agency should be used to pay for incentives to reduce deforestation of the rainforest.

Virgilio Viana, former secretary of the environment for the state of Amazonas in Brazil has argued that carbon market buyers should have to buy ten per cent of their credits from reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD).

A gradual introduction of REDD credits would avoid the concerns voiced by some groups that their introduction would cause a crash in the price of carbon credits.

Mr Gray noted that the former Amazonas minister called for emission reductions to be increased from the current 20 per cent on 1990 levels to up to 40 per cent.

"This will have the effect of incorporating in some measure the huge forestry sector whilst still maintain the price of carbon and the pressure on companies in the developed world to clean up their own act," he added.

But as well as the global role rainforests play, it is also important to remember that they are home to creatures and communities whose needs have often been overlooked in order to satisfy global demands.

Hunger abroad for resources such as cattle and oil through to illegal wood and cocaine has decimated rainforests and their communities and the move to protect rainforests should not echo these mistakes.

Mr Gray argued that people who complain that REDDs comodify the rainforest or fail to take into account its full importance are forgetting about the time pressures and the local communities.

For the locals, as well as for the rainforests in their global role, it is important that action is taken now, even if that means comodifying it.

Taking such steps can also help compensate local communities for their involvement.

He added: "There is talk of monetising the other environmental services that the rainforest provide, such as the rainfall patterns that they help create, it might be a shame that we have to resort to market forces and carbon to save something as intrinsically valuable as the rainforest but time is of the essence."

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