residents of tropical forest properties can earn more money from the standing forest than from its removal

So REDD also brings with it a socialist utopia so the cannibal capitalists will never ever again profit from destroying these planetary resources. That's so cool, comrades!

It sounds like a great idea IF, and only if the money actually makes it to the residents and is not just lining some government pockets while the locals continue cutting trees to live. cynical

Here in the U.S., they're still clear-cutting forests to build new housing developments. One thing I've been wondering about the cap-and-trade bill is: would developers have to buy carbon permits in order to bulldoze the trees that stand in the way of the new homes they want to build? I'd hope that sort of thing would be factored in, but I've not seen any good analysis of either the House bill or the Kerry bill that would give a clue.

For crying out loud Neill. Give it a rest.

In 2005, a Canadian group called Pembina published a study on the monetary value of Canada's boreal forest. At the time I was writing for an energy research firm and wrote a brief note on some of the highlights. For what it's worth now, here's what I pulled from the report (still available at http://www.pembina.org/pub/204):

"A Canadian economist recently completed a study in which the market value of products extracted in 2002 from Canada`s boreal (northern, sub-Arctic) forest is calculated at $48.9 billion. From that, $11.1 billion is subtracted as the cost of air pollution and government subsidies, yielding a total market value for products of $37.8 billion. The non-market value of the boreal forest, which includes items such as water filtration, pest control (birds eating bugs), and carbon sequestration, totaled $93.2 billion, about two-and-a-half times as much.

"Looking just at the value of the boreal forest as a carbon sink, the numbers are quite startling. Nearly 60% of Canada`s land mass is boreal forest and it holds 67 billion metric tons of carbon. Put another way, Canada`s boreal forest can sequester more than 300 years worth of the country`s carbon emissions, or nearly 8 years worth of the world`s total emissions. The study estimates that the total value of the boreal forest as a carbon sink is about $849 billion.

"Traditionally, the value of natural resources has been calculated on the revenue that is generated when the resources are extracted. This study demonstrates that the value of those resources could be much higher if they are left undisturbed. For example, Canada projects that development of its oil sands deposits will produce about $531 billion in total revenue through 2020, of which about $123 billion would go to Canada`s federal, provincial, and local governments. But if Canada could find a way to monetize its boreal forest`s value as a carbon sink, the country could earn more than $42 billion annually for the next 20 years by doing nothing."

Pembina and the Canadian Boreal Initiative group have continued with similar research. I, alas, have not kept up.

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