Vern av regnskog preges så langt av mange mislykkede prosjekter, upålitelige data, grådighet og spill. Skal regnskogmilliardene komme til nytte er første steg å se på hva som har gått galt, skriver økonom og førsteamanuensis Arild Angelsen ved Universitetet for miljø- og biovitenskap (UMB) i denne kronikken. Jeg frykter at det blir lite effekt av regnskogmilliardene om en ikke har tungen beint i munnen. Her følger en fem punkts smørbrødsliste, basert på forskning om årsakene til avskogning, for hvordan Norge bør bruke milliardsatsingen på redusert avskogning og CO2-utslipp.

British Council, Pusat Penelitian Kehutanan Antarbangsa (Cifor), dan WWF Indonesia yang mengumpulkan 34 anak muda itu dalam program Asian Young Leader Climate Forum(AYLCF) pada 3-14 Desember 2007 di Bogor, Jawa Barat. Kegiatan paralel dengan pelaksanaan COP 13 United Nation Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) di Bali. "Ini merupakan bentuk dukungan kami terhadap upaya mitigasi perubahan iklim," kata Direktur Learning and Creativity British Council, Christopher Palmer, pada acara pembukaan AYLCF di Bogor, Senin. "Dan ini bukan pekerjaan sehari, bicara masa depan, pemuda harus di depan," lanjutnya.

The Centre for International Forestry Research, CIFOR, which has been entrusted with a global mandate to examine and reduce the risks associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation policies, especially where they threaten those least able to afford them, such as poor rural communities who heavily rely on forest, is stepping up its investment in climate change and forest research with the 2007 launch of its Climate Change and Forests Initiative. This initiative embraces two strands of the Centre’s globally mandated research: adaptation and climate change; and, mitigation and climate change. The former looks at how governments and communities can improve the ability of forests to adapt to climate change. The latter examines how forests can best be managed to reduce carbon emissions and at the same time improve the well-being of poor communities that depend on the forests, partly or wholly, for their livelihoods. With the right research informing policy making, sustainable forest management can safeguard existing community livelihoods while generating new income possibilities through compensated avoided deforestation.

SMA Mardi Yuwana Bogor pun mengampanyekan isu global warming. Stan sekolah itu dipenuhi boneka dari pelepah pisang, kertas daur ulang, tas dari rotan, biobag dari serat daun singkong, pupuk dari daun kering, hingga tong sampah yang dibagi menjadi tiga yaitu sampah kertas, plastik, dan kaleng. Bekerja sama dengan Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), kelompok beranggotakan enam siswa kelas 3 IPA itu ingin melakukan sesuatu yang nyata. Bukti tindakan nyata itu adalah mereka mewajibkan peserta Latihan Dasar Kepemimpinan membawa satu pohon.

"Alasan kami bekerjasama dengan CIFOR adalah jangkauan global yang dimiliki CIFOR. Selain itu komitmen CIFOR dalam menjadikan enam hektar tanah di Bogor sebagai hutan," tutur ketua kelompok, Miranta.

Global attention to climate change issues, including in Indonesia, hit a new high in 2007 after leading climate scientists bombarded the public with a string of reports describing the evidence for human-induced climate change as "unequivocal". The Center for International Forestry Research has predicted that developing nations could reap between $2.3 billion and $23 billion per year from avoiding deforestation under the REDD scheme.

The vital document tabled in Bali in response to this issue was a study by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), which warned that the new push to "reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation," known by the acronym REDD, was in danger because of a routine failure to grasp the root causes of deforestation. The study sought to link what was known about the underlying causes of the loss of 13 Mha of forest each year to the promise – and potential pitfalls – of REDD schemes. CIFOR found that there was ample opportunity to reduce carbon emissions if financial incentives were sufficient enough to flip political and economic realities that cause deforestation, according to the research groups website.

Trees are being felled at an alarming rate, even as delegates from the 190 countries attending the conference were nitpicking on the words that went into the draft of the Bali Roadmap. Deforestation, according to the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is contributing some 20% of carbon emissions – or 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2 – in the atmosphere. The world, says a Centre for International Forestry Research report released at the same Bali conference, is losing 13 million hectares of forests each year.

But Greg Clough from the Jakarta-based Centre for International Forestry Research said the scientific community was divided on the question of whether deforestation leads to floods that cause landslides. "There is no simple explanation," Mr Clough said. "Blaming upland farmers for massive downstream flooding can cause unnecessary suffering through policies that restrict their livelihoods." At the scene of the landslide in Central Java, local officials insisted that deforestation was not to blame.