Many find the global discussion of deforestation a tired one, most especially with those who cannot directly relate to this particular environmental malaise. Much less is their capacity to correlate deforestation with worldwide carbon emissions. Fact is ‘deforestation accounts for 20%-25% of worldwide carbon emissions, whereas the global transportation sector currently accounts for the same amount if not less (15-20%).’

More often than not, the issue of deforestation is discussed alongside the tragedy that has been befalling the Amazon rainforest, one of the largest in the world and perhaps the most deforested. No one can argue, though, that the Amazon rainforest is vital to the planet’s ecosystem. ‘Approximately one in every 10 known species in the world lives in the Amazon. It also provides the world with 20% of its oxygen, and contains 20% of the world’s freshwater. 25% of all modern pharmaceutical drugs are derived from rainforest plants, and yet only about 1% have been studied, including those that might help fight cancer.’

The territorial caretaker of the Amazon rainforest may very well be Brazil. This country is first and foremost accountable for the forest’s stewardship. Unfortunately, the endangered species list in Brazil tripled in size in 2008 as the Amazon deforestation during the same year rose by an alarming 64 percent in rate.

So, for the sake of global warming and climate change discussions and negotiations, the matter of the Amazon rainforest should be part and parcel of any agreements that will take effect after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

REDD or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation is a set of mechanisms that ‘use market/financial incentives to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation.’ Hopefully, this will be part of whatever agreement succeeds the Kyoto Protocol.

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Via The Huffington Post