The Prime Minister has hosted the Number 10 launch of the Eliasch Review into deforestation.
Accompanied by report author Johan Eliasch, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, Development Secretary Douglas Alexander and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, the PM said that investment in the environment could offer a “route out of the current economic downturn”.
Efforts to preserve the forests should be “just as forceful and determined” as efforts to develop green technology, he said.
In his review, Mr Eliasch called upon the international community to enable rainforest countries to halve deforestation by 2020 and make the global forest sector ‘carbon neutral’ by 2030. The review also states that reducing emissions from deforestation should be fully included in any post-2012 global climate deal at Copenhagen.
Mr Eliasch, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on deforestation and clean energy, said:
“Saving forests is critical for tackling climate change. Without action on deforestation, avoiding the worst impacts of climate change will be next to impossible, and could lead to additional climate change damages of $1 trillion a year by 2100.
“Including the forest sector in a new global deal could reduce the costs of tackling climate change by up to 50% and therefore achieve deeper cuts in emissions, as well as reducing poverty in some of the world’s poorest areas and protecting biodiversity.
“Deforestation will continue as long as cutting down and burning trees is more economic than preserving them. Access to finance from carbon markets and other funding initiatives will be essential for supporting forest nations to meet this challenge.”
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