As the European Parliament's Industry Committee prepares to vote this week on legislation which could mobilize billions from Europe's carbon market to curb tropical deforestation, BBC's Panorama last night reported on a challenge from the President of Guyana to Gordon Brown and the international community to help him save his forests in the fight against climate change. Tropical deforestation causes 20% of all carbon emissions, more than the entire global transport sector.

Since November 2006 Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo has repeatedly asked for the UK's help to put his country's entire standing forest under internationally-verified supervision, in return for financially supporting a new model of development which makes it more valuable to keep his forests standing up, rather than cutting them down. The President has accepted an offer from internationally renowned consultants McKinsey to help him design his move to a low carbon economy but so far Governments have not responded to his challenge.

 "By delaying his reponse to Guyana's extraordinary offer, Gordon Brown is missing an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on climate change. We don't want Europe to do the same" said Andrew Mitchell, Executive Director of the Global Canopy Programme, an alliance of 38 scientific institutions in 19 countries studying tropical forests and the atmosphere. "Currently Europe bans credits from forests like Guyana's from its Emissions Trading Scheme, by far the world's largest carbon market. To continue the ban would be a slap in the face to poor nations trying to save their forests and who will suffer most from the climate change that European and global demand is driving. "

The pivotal vote this Thursday by the EU Parliament's Industry Committee is part of a fast-tracked overhaul of the Emissions Trading Scheme which could be finalised as early as mid-December this year. Until now tropical forests have been excluded from the European market, but with Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) firmly on the agenda for a post-Kyoto agreement to be finalized at next year's UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen, many hope that Europe will leave the door open for forest credits.

"Now we need solutions that are national and supra-national in scope, and which address the fundamental reality that deforestation is a result of a market failure that makes trees more valuable dead than alive" said President Jagdeo "In Guyana, we are ready to play our part, and to provide a model for other rainforest countries to share. Our deforestation rate is one of the lowest in the world and we want it to stay that way. However, we also face considerable development challenges – we need better schools and hospitals, more jobs and economic opportunities, and to meet all the other economic and social demands of Guyana's people. I frequently receive proposals from investors to convert our forest into land for agriculture or bio-fuels. Agreeing to these would be a quick way to meet the development challenges we face – but in Guyana, we are acutely conscious of climate change."

Whilst any global political agreement to halt deforestation may take years to complete, the private sector is signalling its willingness to act now. Last night's Panorama also looked at Canopy Capital Ltd, a pioneering investment firm set up earlier this year in partnership with the Global Canopy Programme to invest in all the vital eco-services these forests provide to humanity, including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and water storage. "How can it be that Google's services are worth billions, but those from all the world's rainforests amount to nothing?" said Canopy Capital's Managing Director Hylton Murray Philipson "As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide rise, emissions will carry an ever mounting cost and conservation will acquire real value. The investment community is beginning to wake up to this, but without a supportive framework from Brussels and the rest of the world's carbon capitals we will simply be unable to raise the vast sums needed in time."

-Ends-

Contact:       
Claudia Mckenzie, +44 870 240 5536, Claudia@redheadpr.co.uk
Niki Mardas, +44 7793198569, n.mardas@globalcanopy.org

Notes to Editors

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme: The European Union has exercised strong leadership in efforts to protect the world's climate by making a firm commitment to achieving at least a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.  Yet the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) – by far the world's largest carbon market – has excluded the use of forest-based carbon credits from developing countries since its inception. The EU ETS is currently under review, and as part of the legislative process, members of the Parliament's Industry Committee (ITRE) will vote on proposed amendments to the legislation on Thursday September 11.

Global Canopy Programme: One of the driving forces behind Canopy Capital, an alliance <http://www.globalcanopy.org/main.php?m=2&amp;sm=8&amp;t=1> of 38 scientific institutions in 19 countries, which leads the world in forest canopy research, education and conservation. With a Secretariat in Oxford, its work aims to define and explore the range and economic value of forest ecosystem services <http://www.globalcanopy.org/main.php?m=3> and share its findings with decision-makers in government and finance - www.globalcanopy.org <http://www.globalcanopy.org/>

Canopy Capital Ltd: Canopy Capital is a company specially established in 2007 to drive capital to the canopy. It will acquire the rights to rainforest ecosystem services for the benefit both of financial investors and local communities.  It signed its first agreement with the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development in Guyana in March 2007 –  www.canopycapital.co.uk <http://www.canopycapital.co.uk/>
 
Ecosystem Services: The ecosystem services provided by large areas of intact tropical forest are significant and include climate regulation, rainfall production, water storage, and weather moderation. Forests such as Iwokrama act as a pump drawing water from the Atlantic ocean inland to the Amazon and Guiana Shield, where chemicals released by trees help to create clouds which then deliver moisture over vast distances. The forests of Amazonia release 20 billion tonnes of water into the atmosphere every day through this process, fuelling hydro power plants in the region and watering some of the largest agribusinesses in the world.

www.forestsnow.org
For more information on the Forests NOW Declaration or the Global Canopy Programme, please do not hesitate to contact Daniel Byrne on 0870 240 5536 / 07882 033 166 or Daniel@redheadpr.co.uk

September 12th marks the launch of the landmark Forests NOW Declaration in London already endorsed by over 200 forest leaders, scientists, conservationists, NGOs and business leaders, this Declaration calls on world governments to take urgent action on deforestation in the tropics and sub-tropics, which causes 18-25% of global carbon emissions, more than the world’s entire transport sector.


The Declaration calls for a series of carbon policies and market reforms to incentivise the protection of tropical forests and safeguard the vital services they provide including capture and storage of carbon dioxide.

Forests have been absorbing and storing carbon for millennia and contain 60% of the carbon stored on Earth. Deforestation releases this carbon into the atmosphere contributing significantly to global warming. Action to stop deforestation and to provide sustainable sources of forest products and stimulate forest restoration and the planting of new forests will help substantially in the fight against climate change.

Deforestation, driven by economic forces, also threatens critical natural habitats across the world particularly in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Tropical forests cover less than 7 percent of the Earth’s total surface area but are home to 50 percent of the world’s species and are critical to the survival of over a billion of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. New market-driven incentives are required now if we are to avoid irrevocable damage to our environment and to ourselves.

Today, the Forests NOW Declaration arrives in Europe from the heart of the Amazon forest in Brazil. In a stunning ceremony high above the forest canopy, pioneering State Secretary for Environment Virgílio Viana signed the document alongside leaders from the indigenous, NGO and scientific communities. From Brazil, the Declaration has embarked on a journey through the world’s carbon capitals and great remaining rainforests and is set to arrive at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December, where world leaders are to begin pivotal renegotiations of the Kyoto Protocol and will decide on the role that forestry will be able to play in future efforts to limit emissions and support developing countries.

The Declaration’s remarkable journey is being coordinated by the Global Canopy Programme, an international research network linking 38 institutions in 19 countries. Underpinned by the recognition that “conservation alone has proven no match for commerce”, it calls for a new series of economic reforms to incentivise the protection of tropical forests an safeguard the vital services they provide. Currently, deforestation is responsible for greater carbon emissions than the entire global transport network.

Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Lauerate and Founder of the Green Belt Movement, said “We need a mechanism that will assist people in developing countries, certainly in Africa, to protect their standing forests and plant trees, to protect their soil, protect biodiversity and protect livelihoods while reducing carbon emissions for everyone.”

Kevin Conrad, Ambassador of Environment and Climate Change for Papua New Guinea and Executive Director of the 30-strong Coalition for Rainforest Nations, said: “Global markets for cows and coffee have been driving deforestation. The measures called for in this Declaration offer an opportunity to compete head to head with the money a country can make elsewhere - while protecting forests. We absolutely must do this if we are serious about climate stability.”

“This is a declaration of hope” said Andrew Mitchell, Director of the Global Canopy Programme. “Halting deforestation is an opportunity to score a big win against climate change –These forests support the livelihoods of 1.4 billion of the world’s poorest people, and offer services critical to humanity’s survival, such as rainfall generation and maintaining half of all life on Earth - benefits we all need but do not yet pay for.”