The short rains failed, and drought has hit Kenya again. Without water, farmers are watching their crops whither. Ten million people, almost a third of the population, are facing hunger or worse. The government has declared a national disaster. The World Food Programme is more than doubling, to 3.5 million, the number of Kenyans receiving food aid.

Kenya’s situation, sadly, is not unique. Drought, erratic rainfall and desertification—likely intensified by climate change—are realities for numerous communities that rely directly on land, soil and forests to meet basic needs. Marking the World Environment Day on the 5^th June, it’s clear that throughout Africa and much of the developing world, environmental issues are not a luxury extraneous to economic survival. Indeed, protecting and restoring forest ecosystems, and arresting global warming, are matters of life and death.

One need only look to Bangladesh and India, where hundreds have just been killed and thousands flooded from their homes by an unusually powerful cyclone. In Darfur, drought, land degradation and a spreading desert have led to a scramble over pasture, farmland and water. Fueled by leaders competing for power, the conflict has escalated into harrowing levels of displacement, sexual violence and death.

In Africa, as in many poor countries, per capita industrial greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions are negligible compared with those of the developed world as well as China and India. Yet the least developed countries stand to be climate change’s biggest victims, with the least capacity and means to adapt.

To this end, a “green deal” on climate for the least developed countries, most of which are in Africa, is needed. As suggested by Kofi Annan and Nicholas Stern, such a deal should support development of green technology, particularly for energy, and provide new sources of funds for mitigation and adaptation.

Six months from now, governments will converge in Copenhagen to formulate a new treaty that will provide benchmarks for reduction of GHGs. Negotiators must craft a comprehensive, effective, just, and equitable response to global warming. Agreement on a comprehensive plan for sustainable management of the world’s tropical forests is essential.

Standing forests serve as the planet’s carbon sinks and “lungs.” Approximately 20 percent of total emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the major greenhouse gas, result from deforestation and forest degradation. This is occurring especially in the forests of Amazonia, Southeast Asia, the Congo Basin, and the boreal region of northern Canada and Siberia. Up to 34 billion tons of carbon are trapped in the forests of the Congo Basin Ecosystem alone.

Scientists predict that as the temperature rises, soils in the tropics will dry up. Trees and forests could die off on a vast scale, and fresh water will be less available. The rivers leaving Kenya’s Mau forest, which replenish many lakes, including those essential to the tourism industry, are drying up. Where government policies are inadequate, communities hungry for agricultural land degrade forests, exacerbating the negative impacts of climate change.

The world hopes that in Copenhagen, governments will be guided by the realities of available scientific evidence, and act accordingly. I welcome the development of new incentive mechanisms, such as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), which should also address degradation of agricultural land. REDD would compensate developing countries for environmental services provided by indigenous forests left standing.

Other mechanisms have been proposed and should be considered, including an “emergency fund” by the Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project, which would provide payments from public and private sources to countries that protect their rainforests.

On carbon markets, a lot is yet to be learned. The Green Belt Movement is implementing pilot projects with both the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and voluntary carbon credit schemes, the experience of which is valuable. It’s important that such markets serve the forests, conserve biodiversity and improve the livelihoods of communities.

Public education is also essential. In 2006, the Green Belt Movement partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Prince Albert II of Monaco, and the World Agroforestry Centre to launch the Billion Tree Campaign. In March 2009 we passed the three billion mark for new trees planted by governments, organizations, communities, the private sector, and individuals. Our new goal is planting of an additional seven billion trees by the end of 2009–roughly equal to what the human population will be then.

With global leadership and the mobilization of the world’s citizens we can prevent the catastrophic disruption threatened by climate change. I believe the world’s peoples are ready to act. Time is no longer on our side. As U.S. president Barack Obama has said: “Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”

If James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis is correct, the planet will adapt itself to the environment we are creating. The challenge is whether we will—fast enough to survive. Now is a moment for urgency.

Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is founder of the Green Belt Movement and the goodwill ambassador for the Congo Basin Rainforest Ecosystem. Her new book, The Challenge for Africa: A New Vision is published by Random House this month.

For more information on the Green Belt Movement please visit www.greenbeltmovement.org