Five environmental trust funds in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and  Peru have joined with Columbia University’s 
Center for Environment, Economy, and  Society to establish the Amazon Forest Carbon Partnership, a collaboration  to reduce carbon emissions and provide an economic alternative for forest  dwelling communities and commercial enterprises in the Amazon. The issue of  forest carbon credit, in which wealthy countries offset their emissions by  compensating land holders for preserving forests, was a core point of  negotiations at the global climate summit in Copenhagen.