TAKE ACTION: Selective logging diminishes primary and old-growth forests’ carbon stores, ecosystems, and biodiversity; and has no place in proposed carbon market payments for rainforest and climate protection

The concept of “avoided deforestation” — whereby countries are paid to protect forests — is the most promising rainforest and climate change policy development in years. It fights climate change at a low cost while preserving other ecosystem services, safeguarding biodiversity and improving living standards for some of the world’s poorest people. Unlike other proposed forest conservation solutions, such as “certified” forest logging of ancient forests (primary and old-growth forests), it has the potential to maintain standing rainforests in an intact, fully functioning condition; while meeting reasonable local development needs…

For the first time a grouping of tropical rainforest rich countries, called the “Forestry Eight” and controlling over 80 percent of the world’s tropical rainforests, agree and are proposing a plan to be paid to protect their rainforests and thus reduce global warming… Troublingly, many crucial details regarding how avoided deforestation payments would work remain undefined…

Let the “Forestry Eight” know that in order to ensure carbon payments for rainforest and climate protection are rigorous and maximally effective, they must be made to avoid both rainforest deforestation AND diminishment, which excludes ANY industrial development. Only equitable payments for strict preservation will maximize climate, ecosystem, biodiversity and local benefit. Anything less is greenwashing and will not solve anything. TAKE ACTION: