Safeguards for climate change being looked at
Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:00pm
Papua New Guinea's chief Climate Change negotiator, Kevin Conrad,
says they are trying to build safeguards into the Copenhagen climate
agreement, to limit opportunities for crime.
The move follows PNG's carbon credits scandal, and the arrest of nine
people in London last week, suspected of a multi-million dollar fraud
in carbon permits, bringing attention to a rich new field for crime,
sprung from the fight against climate change.
One of the primary measures considered, is to postpone any payments
for avoiding deforestation, until inspectors verify that tree-cutting
trends have been reversed.
Dr. Conrad says, carbon cowboys should be rounded up, as they are
already persuading landowners, with little understanding of modern
commerce, to sell a share of the rights to carbon stored in their
trees, counting on a hefty profit later.
Carbon credits from avoided deforestation do not exist yet for
governments to sell, as there are no mechanisms in place, to measure
and verify forests that are being preserved. |
