Nairobi — A proposal at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen that poor countries be paid for planting trees could spur Kenya's efforts to reclaim her forests.
The agreement to cut carbon emissions by paying developing countries to maintain their forests has the potential to reverse the decline in the world's forests, according to an analysis of national policy options to reduce deforestation. It was released yesterday by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
Climate change negotiators already recognise that forests matter in climate change policy. Deforestation and land use change accounts for up to 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transportation sector.
Climate change negotiators are currently debating the introduction of a carbon trading mechanism which could lead to the transfer of US$ 15-25 billion per year to forest-rich developing countries.
The CIFOR report notes that implementing these schemes successfully will require countries to enact reforms in such areas as land tenure, forest monitoring, and governance.
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The report cautions that past efforts to curb forest loss have failed more often than they have succeeded. Kenyan government has faced huge resistance from politicians in Rift Valley over efforts to reclaim the degraded Mau Forest complex.
If the government has its way and replants the entire forestland, then it stands to reap benefits accruing from carbon trades.
But the CIFOR analysis concludes that financial incentives for forest protection could finally provide the all-important political will for meaningful action in developing countries, where for decades the forces of deforestation have dominated.
The authors argue that critical reforms necessary to prepare for payment schemes will take time. These include clarifying who owns forested areas and the carbon stored in them and how to monitor carbon stocks.
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There are two way to solve the problem: cap and trade, and carbon credits. Through cap and trade every country has an alloted amount of carbon - cap - beyond which they will be fined. They can also buy pollution credits from those who have not exceeded their capped limit -- thus the socalled cap and trade. The polluters, i.e., those who exceed their capped limit, would pay a fine or buy pollution credits from those who pollute less, i.e., those who never exceed their alloted capped limits.
Secondly, those who plant trees and or generate clean and renewable energy, like hydro and solar, would earn carbo credits which they can then sell to the polluters.
Only a "fair" carbon pollution trading arrangement would solve the problem. Experience has shown that making rich countries directly pay for their continued lion's share of destroying the climate is like subjecting them to a root canal procedure. Going the capitalist, open market, route is one way to force the vital issue.
Paying up the poor countries to plant trees would be an end to itself but give a hungry man a fish but make a point of teaching him how it is brought to the table.A vigorous campaign should be adopted to create awareness on the importance of forests. It also the high time government relegated powers on forest management to the concerned communities as in the drafted accords of Participatory Forest Management as a healing to many unsolved poverty related attributes.The governments should make it easier for the communities to access the information needed in achieving proper conservation measures.