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World Bank Eyes us$250 Million
Deal To Save Forests
The World Bank is in talks with
Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica and
Indonesia, and regional bodies
in Brazil and the Democratic
Republic of Congo to fund forest
protection, said Warren Evans,
the Bank's head of environment.
The World Bank had previously
done deals with Chinese chemical
plants to destroy greenhouse
gases in exchange for tradeable
carbon credits and the
rainforest project will follow
that approach.
The aim is to cut the
contribution to climate change
of clearing and burning
rainforests, responsible for
about one fifth of global
greenhouse gas emissions.
"Governments have approached the
bank in the past six months,"
Evans told Reuters, speaking on
the fringes of a carbon trading
conference.
"We'll pilot over the next three
years. The Amazon would be a
great pilot," he said, adding
that that would depend on
Brazilian state approval.
The Bank wants to sign deals
with three to five countries by
2009 or 2010 to agree to limits
on national carbon emissions
from deforestation, in return
for some $250 million
investment.
Evans was unable to comment on
what acreage of forest the
scheme would protect.
The World Bank would raise funds
from national governments and
charitable foundations. Donors
may get carbon credits in
return, depending on their
future eligibility for carbon
trade under the Kyoto Protocol.
"Investors would be running the
risk of not getting carbon
credits, but we hope they will."
Part of the money would be
distributed to local people, for
example through infrastructure
development.
"Poor people make more money
from agriculture or logging. We
have to deal with livelihood
issues," Evans said.
The plan would pilot possible
expanded forest protection under
Kyoto using a carbon trading
model after 2012.
Already under Kyoto rich
countries can pay poor countries
to cut emissions from other
activities, such as the
manufacture of refrigerants and
fertiliser, but paying countries
to avoid deforestation is not
yet eligible.
The pilot project depends on
support from national
governments at upcoming climate
talks on extending the Kyoto
Protocol after 2012, at G8
meetings in Germany and in
Indonesia.
Environmental groups have
recently criticised the World
Bank for its role in
distributing logging rights in
DRC. Evans defended the bank's
role.
"We allowed the government to
eliminate concessions that had
been let out, and consolidate
them for forest protection and
management," he said.
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