Focus sharpens on forests for climate fix

Payments from polluters in rich countries to tropical communities in exchange for slowing deforestation may soon play a bigger role in combating climate change if problems like measuring preservation efforts can be overcome.

"It's a bit of a minefield," Michael Brune, the executive director of non-profit group the Rainforest Action Network, told the Reuters Global Environmental Summit in New York. He said there are plenty of opportunities to attract funds to protect key ecological areas, but enforcement of laws to preserve them amid illegal logging and clearing is difficult. "But I would say the benefits outweigh the threats."

Carbon brokers in New York and London have begun working on deals in which greenhouse gas polluters in rich countries would attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by paying communities in developing countries to slow tree felling rates.