COPENHAGEN — Signaling a breakthrough on a key climate change issue, the United States and five other nations on Wednesday pledged $3.5 billion over three years to preserve the world’s forests.
“Protecting the world’s tropical rain forest is not a luxury; it is a necessity,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, noting that deforestation accounts for 17 percent of humanity’s emissions of heat- trapping greenhouse gases.
The U.S. said it would contribute $1 billion from 2010 to 2012.
“It’s a start, but we’ll need a lot more,” said Gov. Eduardo Braga of the heavily forested Brazilian state of Amazonas. “Industrial nations are responsible for most of the emissions in the atmosphere; they owe us a debt.”
Under cap-and-trade programs, including one pending in the U.S. Congress, rain-forest protection could be funded in part by utilities, refineries and others as a substitute for reducing their emissions.
