SAVE THE RAIN FORESTS - GIVE 'EM THE MONEY!

This article in today's Telegraph quotes from a report by the WWF which warns of the massive destruction of the rain forests. While not doubting the importance of these massive areas, the solution to the problem offered by the report is missing the point altogether.

The report says, "At the international negotiations currently underway in Bali, governments must agree a process which results in ambitious global emission reduction targets beyond the current phase of Kyoto which ends in 2012. Crucially this must include a strategy to reduce emissions from forests and help break the cycle of deforestation."

They go on to say "All opportunities to govern Amazon frontier expansion must be seized. One of the most promising approaches to the large-scale conservation of Amazon forests is to compensate tropical nations for their reductions in heat-trapping gas emissions from tropical forests."

Here we see the real agenda which is for us to subsidise these nations. These rain forests are important for a whole host of reasons, and the nations that have them need to preserve them in their own interests. The destruction of these forests is being blamed on climate change which is allegedly down to CO2 emissions, when the real blame lies with their destruction for profit and the failure of the governments in the third world to protect them. Giving them bigger handouts is unlikely to be effective.