. Earth Science News .
Greenpeace calls for deforestation fund

by Staff Writers
Bonn (AFP) May 20, 2008
Greenpeace urged industrialised nations Tuesday to set up an international fund to fight deforestation but warned it would require at least 30 billion dollars a year to work.

The plan would see rich nations give poorer ones money to preserve their natural forests instead of felling trees to create farmland, Greenpeace's Roman Czebiniac told an 11-day UN conference on biodiversity in Bonn.

He said the fund would need 20 to 27 billion euros (31 to 47 billion dollars) a year to halt the rapid destruction of forests, but billed it as the only plan on the table "to protect both biodiversity and the climate."

"At the moment, the rainforests are disappearing at a rate of the equivalent of a football field every two seconds," he warned.

Put differently, deforestation accounts for 20 percent of the greenhouse effect blamed for global warming.

Greenpeace asked that its proposal -- dubbed the "Forest for Climate Plan" -- be made part of a blueprint for fighting deforestation in negotiations for a post-2012 climate deal.

The pact, being negotiated under UN auspices, would succeed the current provisions of the Kyoto Protocol.

Marcelo Marquesini from Greenpeace Brazil said an international fund would enable the nation to preserve its rainforests, of which 17 percent has already disappeared to make way for agriculture.

The environmental group called on Germany as host of the biodiversity conference to set an example and put two million euros (three million dollars) into the fund this year.

But German Development Minister Sigmar Gabriel, solicited for his reaction at a press conference, dismissed the proposal as "unrealistic."

The marathon Bonn conference is aimed at ending the destruction of countless plant and animal species.

It is ninth of its kind of countries who signed up to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Forestry News - Global and Local News, Science and Application



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Brazil's military should patrol Amazon: new environment minister
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) May 19, 2008
Brazil's newly appointed environment minister, Carlos Minc, is pushing to have the military patrol nature reserves in the Amazon and elsewhere, according to comments published Monday.







  • RediStat Partners With ALERT FM For Disaster-Proof Emergency Communications
  • Rescuers find more survivors in China quake rubble
  • US military planes deliver aid to quake-hit China
  • China's vice premier arrives in quake-hit Sichuan: report

  • Six million children threatened by Ethiopia drought: UN
  • Thousands face death as drought sweeps Ethiopia
  • 'Space' kangaroo shines light on global warming
  • Earth Impacts Linked To Human-Caused Climate Change

  • GeoEye Scheduled To Launch Next-Gen EO Satellite
  • Joint NASA-French Satellite To Track Trends In Sea Level And Climate
  • NASA/Northrop Grumman Agreement Opens Door To Earth Science Research
  • US giving China satellite images of quake damage: Pentagon

  • Some biofuel crops could become invasive species, experts warn
  • We Energies Wind Project Begins Commercial Operation
  • Superconductors Get A Boost From Pressure
  • Outside View: Russia pipeline reach grows

  • Tracking Influenza's Every Movement
  • Call for fresh thinking as AIDS pandemic marks quarter century
  • Researchers despondent as AIDS vaccine still out of reach
  • Doctor's mission: prevent disease after China quake

  • Explorers Marvel At Brittlestar City
  • Teaching Evolution: Legal Victories Are Not Enough
  • Recipe For Energy Saving Unravelled In Migratory Birds
  • U.S. scientists develop artificial cell

  • Personal Care Products Linked To Environmental Pollution And Human Health Concerns
  • In Italy, Naples residents rise up against rubbish crisis
  • NOAA Reports Coastal Waters Show Decline In Contaminants
  • Cleaning Up The Oceans With Wakame Waste

  • Human Visual System Equipped With Future Seeing Powers
  • Human genetic separation suggested
  • Justice In The Brain: Equity And Efficiency Are Encoded Differently
  • Nearly One-Third Of US Parents Don't Know What To Expect Of Infants

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement