Climate talks agree to pay to protect forests

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(AFP)

11 December 2010, 4:48 PM

CANCUN, Mexico — A new climate change deal reached in Mexico has set up a global framework to pay to protect rainforests vital to the ecosystem, but held off on the controversial introduction of a market role.

The deal aims to help developing nations fight deforestation by offering incentives to some 1.2 billion inhabitants of worldwide forests, and governments, to preserve their trees.

While many factors still remained undefined, including how it will be funded, green groups widely lauded the accord, made as part of a modest package agreed on by more than 190 nations at an annual UN climate conference in Cancun, Mexico.

‘This decision converts what — up until now — have been piecemeal efforts to address deforestation into a global endeavor,’ Conservation International said in a statement Saturday.