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Forests offer first hope out of climate deadlock

Six countries agree 3.5-billion-dollar deforestation funding
Copenhagen (AFP) Dec 16, 2009 - Six wealthy countries announced Wednesday they had agreed 3.5 billion dollars to help fight climate change by attacking deforestation, in a programme that would run from 2010-2012. "Actions to reduce emissions from forests can help to stabilize our climate, support livelihoods, provide biodiversity conservation, and promote economic development," they said in a joint statement. "As part of an ambitious and comprehensive deal, we recognize the significant role of international public finance in supporting developing countries' efforts to slow, halt and eventually reverse deforestation."

They described this as "an initial investment" in developing countries that submit "ambitious" plans for preserving their forests instead of logging the resources for timber. "We collectively commit to scaling up our finance thereafter in line with opportunities and the delivery of results," they said. Forests are considered "carbon sinks", meaning that they can be a vital bulwark against global warming. The carbon is stored until the trees rot, are chopped down and burned, at which point it is released back into the atmosphere as a heat-trapping carbon gas.

Commercial logging and use of forested land for agriculture also release gases that were otherwise trapped into the soil. Deforestation accounted for around a fifth of annual emissions of greenhouse gases but this has recently fallen to around 12 percent, according to new figures. Rich countries are being called to provide 10 billion dollars a year from 2010 to 2012 in "fast-track" finance to poor countries to help them reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the looming impacts of climate change.

Sarkozy, African leaders seek help to save Congo rainforest
Paris (AFP) Dec 16, 2009 - French President Nicolas Sarkozy met here Wednesday with African leaders and appealed for international help for the Congo basin, home to the world's second biggest forest. "These countries cannot on their own maintain a forest that is the heritage of humanity," he told reporters after the meeting with leaders and ministers from 11 countries in the region. "The whole idea is that in Copenhagen we mobilise extremely important means to help them," he said, referring to key UN climate talks due to end Friday in the Danish capital. On Tuesday, France and African states issued a joint statement backing targets to limit the rise in global temperatures to two degrees Celsius and to offer financial aid to help poor countries adapt. The statement came after Sarkozy met in Paris with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as part of a joint Europe-Africa push to reach a global deal at the UN climate talks. Meles is to represent the 53 member states of the African Union at the talks.

Sarkozy said he wanted the United States' support for 10 billion dollars (6.7 billion euros) of financial aid per year for poorer states between 2010 and 2012, a proposal agreed by Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last month. He later told France's Canal Plus television that US President Barack Obama was a "good partner" but acknowledged the "difficulties convincing the American public and politicians" on the need for action. He also said he had "a good hope that the Chinese will move in the right direction." "I don't foresee a failure (at Copenhagen) because failure would be catastrophic, in the sense that it will be a long time before the 110 heads of state and government meet again in the same capital and on the same subject," he added.
by Staff Writers
 Copenhagen (AFP) Dec 16, 2009
 Rich nations Wednesday offered the first sign of progress at a UN climate summit, pledging 3.5 billion dollars to fight deforestation as talks bogged down on procedures and were marred by clashes.

Six countries -- Australia, Britain, France, Japan, Norway and the United States -- said they would set up a fund to fight the loss of forests, a leading source of the rising temperatures feared to threaten the planet.

In a joint statement, the six governments said they would collectively dedicate 3.5 billion dollars from 2010 to 2012 in what they hoped would be just the starting point for a deforestation fund by wealthy nations.

But delegates feared an overwhelming amount of work remained as leaders started arriving for the final two days of talks to tame a climate crisis that scientists warn will cause droughts, plagues and storms if unchecked.

"People can kill this process, kill the agreement with process argument," Britain's climate minister Ed Miliband said adding that talks were at a "very dangerous point".

"I think an ambitious agreement is still possible with really hard work."

Developing countries, led by China, accused host Denmark of a lack of transparency by suggesting language for the agreement without full consultation by all sides on the 194-nation summit.

"The situation is still completely blocked," said Chantal Jouanno, France's junior environment minister. "Two days of negotiations have been almost completely lost."

But China said developed nations needed to get their act together, noting that Beijing had come up with an action plan to curb the intensity of its emissions of carbon dioxide blamed for climate change.

"I say to developed countries: wake up, look in the mirror and then compare yourselves to developing countries. We are already on the move, and you are behind," said Su Wei, China's top climate negotiator.

Tensions also flared outside, where police used clubs and tear gas to stop some 2,500 activists who tried to march on the tightly guarded Bella Center.

Police said they rounded up some 260 demonstrators, some of whom clashed again with the guards of their makeshift jail in a former beer warehouse.

Two protesters managed to enter the venue and storm onto the main stage after a speech by Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, repeatedly shouting "Climate justice now!" before being hustled away by security.

Activists were outraged after the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is running the 12-day conference, turned away thousands who were registered, saying the buidling was at maximum capacity.

"This has been unprecedented in the history of the UN's international conventions," said Ximena Valente, an Argentinian activist with the Global Call to Action Against Poverty.

"Our community's voices are not being heard in this process," she said.

The summit climaxes Friday when 120 leaders including President Barack Obama try to lay out a strategy to deal with climate change after the end of 2012, when obligations run out under the landmark Kyoto Protocol.

Scientists warn that many millions of people face going hungry, losing their homes and access to water within the next decade if nothing is done to stem the rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

Most leaders expect a final deal to wait until next year, possibly at a summit in Mexico City, with acrimonious exchanges highlighting the divide that needs to be bridged.

"There's a group of countries who think they are better than us in the South, in the Third World," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who railed against "the imperial dictatorship" of the West.

Some of the bitterest wrangling has been between the world's two biggest carbon emitters, China and the United States, which have declared they would not shift on their emissions pledges, the thorniest problem of all.

Obama has offered to cut US carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020 over a 2005 benchmark, a figure that aligns with legislation put before Congress but is well below pledges by the European Union and Japan.

US Senator John Kerry paid a lightning visit to Copenhagen to tell delegates he needed a strong agreement -- including verifiable action by developing nations -- to win final approval of the US plan by a deeply divided Congress.

"Success in Copenhagen is really critical to success next year in the United States Senate," Kerry told reporters.

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WOOD PILE
Charcoal trade threatens gorillas
 Rumangabo, Democratic Republic Of Congo (UPI) Dec 12, 2009
The habitat of rare mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being threatened by charcoal production, officials said. Thousands of kilns mounded from dirt within the 3,000-square-mile Virunga National Park produce charcoal for rebel forces. The park is home to about 200 endangered mountain gorillas. The rebels fund their fighting by selling the charcoal to refugee ... read more






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