Cap & Trade Markets May Create Perverse Tree Cutting Incentive For Developing Nations
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.16.07
Per a study published in Public Library of Science, Biology, and as described by a Reuters News report:- "The current carbon market actually encourages cutting down some of the world's biggest forests, which would unleash tonnes of climate-warming carbon into the atmosphere, a new study reported on Monday."
"The countries that haven't really been the target of deforestation have nothing to sell because they haven't deforested anything," said Gustavo Fonseca, one of the study's authors..."So that creates a perverse incentive for them to actually start deforesting, so that in the future, they might be allowed to actually cap-and-trade, as they call it: you put a cap on your deforestation and you trade that piece that hasn't been deforested," Fonseca said in a telephone interview."
TreeHugger recommends reading the original article if you are interested in lobbying for changes suggested by the authors.
Via:: Reuters Image credit:: Tree Planting, MocoLoco Art Archives
