Copenhagen treaty may endanger rainforests

On its front page, The Independent warns“Rainforest treaty ‘fatally flawed.’” A key text banning “the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations” has been deleted from a treaty on deforestation due be signed at the Copenhagen climate conference in December. If the safeguard is not reinserted, an environmentalist quoted by the daily claims “we will have a situation where countries are paid for converting their natural forests into palm plantations," which are often used to produce bio-fuel. The report further notes that deforestation “now produces nearly 20 per cent of annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – more than from all the world's transport.” It is for this reason that REDD, a UN programme for “Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries” has a section to itself in the Copenhagen accord. Greenpeace has urged EU officials to reinstate the ban at final negotiations on the treaty, which begin in Barcelona next week.