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Tropical countries that stop the logging or burning of their rainforests
could be paid for the carbon they stop reaching the atmosphere, under proposals
to be discussed at UN climate change talks in December.
With major commitments to make deep cuts in carbon emissions from the United
States, China or India, a deal establishing a way for rich countries to pay for
"avoided deforestation" now look like a diplomatic winner at the talks to be
held in Bali.
Logging and burning of tropical forest is estimated to produce around 20 per
cent of global carbon emissions - about the same as the emissions from the
United States or China.
So avoiding deforestation - by paying carbon credits to countries who set up and
enforce protected areas or give forest inhabitants secure land tenure - is seen
as one of the potential "low hanging fruit" to be grasped by a post-Kyoto
climate change treaty.
It has ...