GUYANA WANTS NON-DEFORESTATION CREDIT

This is precisely the kind of thing that MUST get settled if carbon trading is going to work!

Although REforestation is a legitimate and profitable offset project, countries are not now allowed offset payments for stopping DEforestation because it opens the door for scam offsets. There is no way to be sure the forest would have been chopped down without the payment and it would be difficult to accurately assess the value of something that does NOT happen. On the other hand, stopping deforestation is something that should get done, and soon.

Guyana criticizes carbon credit scheme of Kyoto Protocol
July 12, 2007 (AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo

WHAT
Like Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, as reported July 6, Guyana’s President Jagdeo advocates allowing the sale of credits by nations that prevent deforestation, seeing this as a way to fight the destruction of precious, uncompromised rainforests as well as a method of fighting climate change.
click to enlarge

WHEN
Jagdeo’s remarks were July 12.

WHERE
Guyana will put 200,000 acres of its eastern land under sugar cane production for increasingly profitable ethanol markets. It will also turn a large portion of its northwest acreage into palm oil plantations for biodiesel production. If the country cannot obtain income from preventing its forests from being turned into plantations for biofuel-producing crops, it will necessarily be inclined to allow forest harvesting.

WHY
- The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol grants sellable credits for REforestation but does not allow nations preventing DEforestation from benefiting. This incentivizes forest harvesting, which is detrimental to environment and climate but produces revenue.
- A carbon credit is earned for every ton of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions prevented. Credits are sold on markets to companies or individuals seeking to voluntarily offset their emissions or, if they are part of a mandatory cap-and-trade system like the EU, obtain the privilege to emit beyond their allowed cap.
ideal spot for a sugar cane plantation? (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
Jagdeo: "The Kyoto Protocol is limited in that sense, and it's short-sighted in that it encourages bad behaviour basically among countries; if you cut down trees and you plant them back you get money, if you preserve them, you don't get anything…assistance is miniscule through the Clean Development Mechanism as compared to the carbon credits we could get from standing forests…"