Separately, a report showed that protecting forests could be easier and have bigger effects than parallel drives to curb industrial emissions from factories, power plants and cars. Reducing deforestation “is commonly seen as a significant, cheap, quick and win-win way to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions,” the report by the Center for International Forestry Research said. “The cost estimates vary, from $7 billion to $28 billion per year for halving deforestation,” it said, adding that even the upper estimates compared favorably with industrial curbs.

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At the same time, groups like The Center for International Forestry Research, or Cifor, say that a properly designed system could help with alleviating poverty, improving governance, and protecting biodiversity and other environmental services. “REDD also has the potential to achieve significant co-benefits, over and above reducing carbon emissions,” said Frances Seymour, the director general of the center, which released a new report on Friday Moving ahead with REDD: Issues, options and implications, which details ways that paying people to maintain forests could be a success.

REDD innebär en möjlighet att överföra finansiella resurser till u-länder, att användas som styrmedel för att förändra såväl nationell politik som enskilda markägares beslut, förklarar Frances Seymour, som är chef för Cifor, ett internationellt skogsforskningsinstitut med huvudkontor i Bogor Barat i Indonesien. Men Seymour påpekar att det inte lär bli “en storlek för alla” vad gäller REDD; förutsättningarna är så olika i olika regnskogsländer. Man kan skapa fonder i FN:s eller Världsbankens regi: i-länderna fyller på och u-länderna ansöker om pengar. Man kan också skapa frivilliga marknader där banker, företag och investerare får köpa särskilda REDD-/kolkrediter. Då skulle privat kapital från de rika länderna kanaliseras till regnskogsprojekt. I praktiken kommer det att bli en blandning av de två, tror experterna.

Forests are extremely vulnerable to climate change that is set to bring more wildfires and floods and quick action is needed to aid millions of poor people who depend on forests, a study said on Thursday. The report, by the Jakarta-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), urged delegates at a U.N. climate meeting in Poznan, Poland, from Dec. 1-12 to work out new ways to safeguard forests in developing nations.

“Conserving the existing forests is not only good for the climate as the emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced, but also generates additional benefits, such as biodiversity protection,” said Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso of the Indonesia based Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR).

But a new report by the Center for International Forestry Research being released this week makes a new case: that the forests themselves, and about 1 billion people who rely on them, are imperiled by global warming. “Forests will experience an unprecedented combination of flooding, drought, wildfire, and other effects of a warming climate over at least the next 100 years,” as an Environmental News Service report put it.

Une réunion de l’ONU consacrée au climat se déroule à Poznan (Pologne), du 1er au 12 décembre. Le Centre pour la recherche internationale sur les forêts (Cifor) a attiré l’attention de délégués sur les effets du changement climatique dans les milieux forestiers en termes d’incendies (sécheresse dans les régions montagneuses d’Amérique centrale) et d’inondations (submersion des mangroves en Asie, due à l’élévation du niveau des mers). Un milliard de personnes sont potentiellement concernées, estime le Cifor, qui préconise la sélection d’espèces d’arbres adaptées au changement, la lutte contre de nouveaux insectes parasites et le maintien de couloirs pour permettre aux animaux et aux plantes de migrer.

The CIFOR is urging the buffering of ecosystems against climate-related disturbances and selecting species in plantations better suited to predicted climate changes. “The imperative to assist forests and forest communities to adapt to climate change has been poorly addressed in national policies and international negotiations,” said Frances Seymour, director general of the CIFOR. “The adaptation challenge is being treated as secondary to mitigation, and yet the two are inextricably linked.” Seymour noted forests provide millions of people with income, food, medicines and building materials, as well as delivering many vital ecosystem services such as flood or drought regulation and water purification. They are, therefore, critical to the ability of human societies to adapt to climate change.