UN's Ban calls deforestation summit

Reuters 3 Sep 09;

GENEVA (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he planned to bring together leaders of the world's most forested nations, including Brazil and Indonesia, for a meeting this month to discuss deforestation.

"I'm going to ask the leaders of the forest countries to meet" on September 22, he told journalists at the World Climate Conference.

The UN Secretary General highlighted Brazil, Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo and some European countries as most at risk from deforestation.

"I have been urging many leaders, particularly those forestry countries, to manage this issue, especially reforestation," Ban said.

The UN Environment Programme recently underlined that since trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), stemming deforestation could be a tried and tested method in tackling climate change instead of more ambitious carbon capture projects.

The Amazon region had lost more than 17 percent of its forests -- 875,000 square kilometers (331,000 square miles) by 2005, an area larger than Pakistan or France, according to UN estimates.

While the rate of deforestation has slowed since then, another 11,224 square kilometers (4,333 square miles) disappeared in 2007 in Brazil alone.

Authorities in India said this month that they were looking to the country's vast forest cover to absorb its growing greenhouse gas emissions and stem international pressure to sign on to binding carbon reduction targets.

The proposed meeting in New York would coincide with the UN summit on climate change.