Carbon markets open doors to poor farmers: study
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have teamed together to a launch a $12 million study to assist poor farmers globally in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have teamed together to a launch a $12 million study to assist poor farmers globally in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.
The study, entitled the Carbon Benefits Project, will assess the percentages of carbon stored in soil and trees of sustainably managed land in rural sites of in Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and China.
As the world's population is expected to increase to 9.2 billion people by 2050, the contribution to global warming by farming to meet the extra demand of food is expected to increase sharply.
Trees act as a natural absorbent of carbon dioxide throughout their lifecycle, only emitting the gas as they are burned or the onset of decay. The expansion of farmlands adds to deforestation, attributing a fifth of accountable greenhouse gas emissions.
Putting a price on living trees and storing carbon in the soil could give developing countries an incentive to save forests and adopt more climate-friendly farming practices.
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Source: Reuters