Thursday, October 15, 2009

Brazil's president will pledge in Copenhagen to reduce the pace of the Amazon's deforestation by 80%

If you're going over the news, looking for something positive about the upcoming global climate talks in Copenhagen in December, I think we got one for you.

Agence France-Presse reports that the Brazilian President Lula said on Tuesday that "he will offer to reduce the pace of deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rain forest by 80 percent by 2020 when he attends December’s global climate talks in Copenhagen."

This pledge is translating to emitting 4.8 billion fewer tons of carbon dioxide gas. This is definitely a bold pledge, but how will Brazil do it? well, Lula didn't get into details, but as we mentioned here many times (here and here for example) it will probably will involve the concept of paying landowners to keep their trees standing and not cut them down.

Lula may reveal more details only in Copenhagen but he already knows who will pay the bill - he said according to the news that "he will also demand in Copenhagen that industrialized countries pay their fair share of the costs of reducing greenhouse gases."

It makes sense of course as the burden can't fall only on Brazil's shoulders, but nevertheless it's still a complicated task. So, good news? well, it's just a pledge but it's definitely good news to see that the discussion on the implementation of the "pay landowners to keep trees standing" is moving forward and hopefully, with the help of Lula,it will move forward significantly in Copenhagen. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!