Alarm raised over forest plan to fight climate change

An ambitious plan to fight climate change by making polluters pay to preserve forest has come under the cloud, with some environmentalist calling it unworkable and dangerous. The basic idea behind REDD is to work out how much carbon can be saved by not cutting down trees, and selling that carbon on the global market for big polluters to offset their own emission. Other NGOs, like Friends of the Earth International also say people living in forest especially indigenous people, would be hard pressed to take advantage of the complex world of carbon markets and could be left worse off. However, dire predictions of systematic failure are "extremely pessimistic", said Markku Kanninen, and expert from the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). The story also appeared in Gulf News.