Deforestation is responsible for 17% of global carbon emissionEmissions of greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas precursors, and aerosols associated with human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land-use changes, livestock, fertilisation, etc. (IPCC), yet each year an area the size of England is destroyed.  Growing populations, agricultureCultivation of the ground and harvesting of crops and handling of livestock, the primary function is the provision of food and feed. and the timber industry are amongst the reasons that today the market values forestsForestry is the management and care of woods, including fellings and plantation of new trees. more destroyed than standing.

Last Thursday, representatives of 52 nations concluded on an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation at the Oslo ClimateClimate is typically defined as the average weather (or more rigorously a statistical description of the average in terms of the mean and variability) over a period of time, usually 30 years. These quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate ... and Forest Conference. The conference was also attended by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP), representatives of the World Bank and the regional development banksMultilateral Development Banks are institutions that provide financial support and professional advice for economic and social development activities in developing countries. The term Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) typically refers to the World Bank Group and four Regional Development Banks, and representatives of indigenous peoples and civil society. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said that measures to reduce deforestation are the quickest and least expensive way of achieving large emission cuts and that rapid implementation of measures for reducing deforestation were expected.

It was established that the global forest partnership will promote transparency and  mark the start of the global effort to reduce forest degradation and to find ways to “value forests more alive than dead”. Furthermore, around NOK 25 billion has been pledged for the period 2010–2012 for measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissionsGreenhouse gas emissions cause dangerous anthropogenic climate change. Emissions include CO2, fluoridated gases, methane which are emitted by human activity such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels, and water vapour. from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. The aid promised by rich, industrialized countries will be monitored to ensure that all money flows are based on solid results through the Redd program (Reducing EmissionsEmissions of greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas precursors, and aerosols associated with human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land-use changes, livestock, fertilisation, etc. (IPCC) from Deforestation and Degradation).

It was stated that a global price for carbon emissions must be set up in order to push people to protect forests as well as to attract private sector financing.

Rich and poor countries agreed on the necessity of saving forests, and showed first concrete sign of global action on climate change since Copenhagen. “This is a good day – it rebuilds trust in the international community’s ability to confront climate changeClimate change is a lasting change in weather patterns over long periods of time. It can be a natural phenomena and and has occurred on Earth even before people inhabited it. Quite different is a current situation that is also referred to as climate change, anthropogenic climate change, or ...,” said Abyd Karmali, global head of carbon markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Norway formally announced $1bn in aid to Indonesia to help protect forests in the South East Asian nation, which has been quickly clearing trees for palm oil plantations. It also has a similar deal with Brazil and sets an example. Prince Charles, who was amongst the speakers, praised Norway’s engagement.

Efforts in protected intact forests could achieve a third of the cuts in carbon emissions needed by 2020. It is an opportunity to provide the largest, fastest and cheapest cuts in carbon emissions!