Latin American countries reduce cutting down trees to mitigate climatechange

MEXICO - Carol Forsloff - Climate
change will impact the poor, while the rich may benefit by it according
to scientists examining the global weather patterns and where the bulk
of the problems are likely to occur and how forests can help.

During a special event prior to the pending UN Climate Change Conferance, the importance of improved forestry is underlined.

Governments
across South American are already  implementing a new
financial mechanism for mitigating the problems of climate change.  It
is hoped that carbon emissions can be significantly reduced by
withdrawing from the whole-scale destruction of the tropical forests.

This
means governments are looking at balanced ways to meet the problem of
climate change, rather than one method with the hope it impacts
everyone.

This special meeting was put together by Mexico's
National Forestry Commission and the Swiss government along with
scientific support from the Center for International Forestry Research
and will be held until Friday, September 3.

Under
a special program called  REDD (for reducing deforestation and forest
degradation), industrialized countries will provide developing nations
with sizeable sums of money in exchange for verifiable storage of carbon
in forests, and for them to conserve and manage them.

Destruction
of forests presently is responsible for 12 to 18 percent of annual
global carbon emissions.  Several Latin American countries, as well as
Mexico, will benefit from this.

"Good
forest governance – involving transparent and inclusive relationships
between governments, forests and the people who depend on them – is
fundamental for ensuring that REDD helps forest-dependent communities
move out of poverty, instead of fueling corruption and funding
entrenched bureaucracies," said Elena Petkova, a scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). "REDD schemes could either flounder on governance failures or flourish under successful governance."

Experts
say that public sector investment hasn't produced many local successes
in curbing deforestation over a 40-year-period.  CIFOR scientist Andrew
Wardell says in response to this issue, "

 "REDD
might be our last chance to save the world's tropical forests. So, it's
extremely important to get it right in Latin America and elsewhere.
This region holds nearly a quarter of the world's forests, upon which
millions of people depend, and over the last five years, it has
accounted for 65 percent of global net forest loss."

The
conference in Oaxaca is an introductory and what is considered to be a
key event in preparing for the United Nations Climate Change Conference
to be held later this year in Cancun, Mexico.  The part forests have to
pay in carbon  emissions and climate change is important, according to
what was discussed at the preliminary meeting.

There
are, however, barriers to implication of damping down destruction of
forests because of corruption and illegal logging. Experts, however,
seem to believe, however, these can be overcome in the mix to get ahead
of climate change, which they believe will be supported by traditions of
community forest management at the local levels.

On
the other hand, governments could take over and get the money, along
with higher level executives and rich people, leaving the communities
without the income following the regulations.  Experts, therefore,
believe it is to essential to involve local communities and help them be
successful.