In 2007, more than 50,000 fires raged through the Brazilian Amazon, reducing what were once lush rainforests to charred plains stretching to the horizon. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, fires on the island of Borneo consumed millions of hectares of old-growth forests.
US environmental consultancy EcoTrust has won approval for the first carbon offset project methodology in improved forest management (IFM) under the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS). IFM is a relatively new field of carbon crediting activity taking on heightened importance following the widening of the international REDD initiative on deforestation to include forest restoration and sustainable forest management - so called REDD-plus.
The United Nations Environmental Award presented to President Bharrat Jagdeo may well turn out to be the last such award given for advocates of climate change.
The tide is slowly turning against climate change advocates and especially those, such as President Jagdeo, who are pushing for a financial deal that would see countries rewarded for not cutting down their forests.
Opinion: Point Carbon: credits to average US$26/t in early years of US ETS
Point Carbon Research projects that the price for each metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) would average US$26 over the period 2013-2020 under a federal cap-and-trade system as outlined in the American Power Act (APA).
GFC2010: Closing Speech by The Minister of Forestry
SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF FORESTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA AT THE CLOSING OF THE GOVERNORS’ CLIMATE AND FOREST (GCF) TASKFORCE MEETING Banda Aceh, 20 May 2010
His Excellency Miniter of Environment of Indonesia,
Rain Forests Lose Out in Senate's New Climate Bill
Much of the handwringing by greens over the new climate and energy bill introduced in the Senate on May 12 has focused on the overtly controversial aspects of the legislation: the partial allowances it makes for new offshore oil drilling, for instance, and the ceiling it puts on carbon prices.
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