A 2005 report by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) cited this lack of evidence and argued that flood mitigation efforts though forest preservation could not be justified on economic grounds. Now, a new study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, suggests that forests do impact the occurrence and severity of destructive floods. A prominent researcher is already calling the new work a "landmark study" in support of forest conservation. Analyzing data from 56 developing countries and controlling for differences in rainfall, elevation, soil moisture and degraded areas, researchers from Charles Darwin University in Australia and the National University of Singapore found that a 10 percent increase in deforestation results in a 4-28 percent increase in flood frequency.

Under et tre utenfor kontorene til forskningsinstitusjonen CIFOR på Java sitter den finske klimaforskeren Markku Kannninen og er hoderystende uenig med Stern. For det første mener han slett ikke at det er så billig. For det andre vil det være uhyre komplisert å bremse avskogingen.

I et ekstrem-scenario så plasserer man soldater rundt hele skogen for å holde folk ute. Men det er jo ikke slik vi vil ha det, sier Kanninen. Korrupsjon og svake rettsinstitusjoner i land som Indonesia kompliserer saken. For å opprettholde den heseblesende økonomiske veksten støvsuger Kina Asia for råvarer og skog.

But greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, nearly 20 percent of the world’s total, are not yet eligible for trade because they were excluded from the Kyoto Protocol’s first round, which runs out in 2012. "It’s huge because preserving and conserving the existing pool will then become very attractive," said Daniel Murdiyarso, senior scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). "Whether by means of a market mechanism or not, including deforestation in the new deal is something Indonesia and every developing country should push for."

The World Bank estimates that 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people who are living in extreme poverty depend on forest resources for some part of their livelihood. With this three-year commitment, CIFOR will spend $6 million to launch Climate Change and Forests Initiative to produce independent and timely analysis of the options for including deforestation into global and national climate policies. A key feature of its research will be a focus on ensuring that the risks of avoided deforestation – known as "reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation" or REDD – are not borne by those least able to afford them.

Yet this approach is contentious. Most notably, a serious counterargument came from an influential report published in 2005 by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia. The analysis concluded that the evidence that forests reduce flooding is weak, especially for the largest and most devastating floods. The report suggested that retaining or regenerating large forest areas was an economically dubious strategy for developing nations, at least from a flood-reduction perspective.

Baru-baru ini kita mendengar serangkaian peluncuran laporan Panel Antar-pemerintah tentang Perubahan Iklim (IPCC). Pertama dari Paris di bulan Februari 2007, kedua dari Brusel di bulan April, kemudian dari Bangkok bulan Mei yang lalu. Ketiganya memberi gambaran kelam tentang masa depan planet bumi kita jika kita tidak berbuat sesuatu.

Excess and illegal logging is generally regarded as one of the key drivers behind environmental degradation and destruction of ecosystems, but solutions to the problem face several hurdles, other experts said. ‘Conflicting government objectives, the complexity of regulations and the lack of sufficient data are the key problems,’ said Frances Seymour, director general at the Center for International Forestry Research.

According to a Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) study, prices being paid to collectors of gaharu, such as those in East Kalimantan for high-quality specimens have soared to unprecedented heights, stimulating prices such that gaharu collection has become a high-priced livelihood.