Irregular carbon credits cause upheaval in the government of Papua New Guinea
AT THE United Nations climate change conference in Bali two years ago, the head of the delegation from Papua New Guinea, Kevin Conrad, became a celebrity of sorts. He challenged America to lead the world on climate change or “get out of the way”. America, which had been insisting that poorer countries make more promises on fighting climate change, backed down. That allowed delegates to agree on a road map for setting up an international treaty to replace the existing Kyoto protocol.
Mr Conrad directs an organisation called the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, an alliance of 33 countries that promotes “avoided deforestation”—which means taking measures to prevent trees being chopped down. Deforestation accounts for about a fifth of the world’s emissions of greenhouse gases. The coalition argues that poor countries urgently need the revenue logging can bring. If rich countries want them to preserve their forests to keep the planet cool, they should provide some compensation for the forgone logging revenue. In other words, rich countries that are obliged to make reductions in carbon emissions under a new climate treaty could pay owners of forests to stop deforesting as a way of reducing carbon emissions.
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