December 2009

COPENHAGEN 2009: THE FINAL draft of a deal on curbing carbon emissions from deforestation has been stripped of any real protection for natural forests or indigenous peoples who have looked after them for cen

At this week's global climate talks, some rich nations are prepared to urge more lenient accounting practices to hide a portion of their fossil fuel carbon emissions using their trees, environmentalists say.

Destruction of forests — burning or cutting trees to clear land for plantations or cattle ranches — is thought to account for about 20 percent of global emissions. That's as much carbon dioxide as all the world's cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships combined.

Carbon offset schemes like REDD have been a big part of the Copenhagen negotiations so far, but in practice they can go horribly wrong, reports Angela Dewan