Forest plan may 'fuel corruption'

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The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has launched a plan to save the world's threatened rainforests - but already it is running into opposition. The review by Swedish businessman Johan Eliasch proposes paying poor nations not to cut down their trees.

The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has launched a plan to save the world's threatened rainforests - but already it is running into opposition.

The review by Swedish businessman Johan Eliasch proposes paying poor nations not to cut down their trees.

The money would come from carbon trading schemes in rich countries where firms have to buy permits to pollute.

However, some development groups have deep reservations about the plan, believing it could fuel corruption.

It is possible that the ambitious and detailed scheme from Mr Eliasch will form the basis of international negotiations to bring forestry into a global climate change agreement. The current deal, the Kyoto Protocol, must soon be updated.

'Reducing poverty'

Some of the most important forested areas in the world are being felled to exploit their resources, or to make way for cattle and other agri-businesses. The clearance and burning of trees and the change in land use is putting into the atmosphere yet more carbon dioxide (CO2), the main gas blamed for human-induced climate change.

Forest loses are thought at present to account for about 20% of our extra CO2 emissions.

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