Saving rainforests a thorny issue at Bali talks

By David Fogarty

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Protecting tropical rainforests, which soak up vast amounts of greenhouse gases, is proving a real headache at U.N.-led climate talks in Bali, where delegates are trying to sort out a pay-and-preserve scheme.

Scientists say deforestation in the tropics is responsible for about 20 percent of all man-made carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming. Halting the destruction, or at least curbing the clearing and burning of remaining tropical forests, is widely regarded as a crucial part of any new climate pact.

Under a scheme called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD), developing nations could earn billions of dollars through carbon trading by simply leaving forests such as in the Amazon and Congo basins.

"I do think we will see deforestation in the agenda for the future (negotiations). The focus here is pilot projects and more methodological work," said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat.

"It's clearly one of the issues that a number of countries want to introduce," he told Reuters.

Curbing deforestation has become a top issue for the thousands of delegates at Bali because the Kyoto Protocol does not include schemes that reward developing nations to preserve tropical rainforests.

The United Nations hopes the two-week conference will agree to include a REDD scheme in negotiations to work out a broader climate pact by 2009 to replace or expand the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012.

The problem, though, is finding a scheme that fits all developing nations, said Hans Verolme of conservation group WWF.