Germany’s Merkel Pledges Millions To Save Forests

Germany has pledged 500 million euros ($786.2 million) by 2012 to help protect the world’s forests, a move activists said could give impetus to UN talks on preserving the earth’s biodiversity.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who won praise from environmentalists last year for her part in pushing through EU and G8 deals to fight climate change, made the commitment at a UN conference as it entered its decisive phase.
“We need a turning point on the issue of biodiversity,” Merkel told delegates from 191 states participating in the 12-day conference which ends on Friday.

UN studies say the planet is facing the most serious spate of extinctions since dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, and experts meeting in Bonn are trying to agree on ways to slow down the rate at which plants and animals are dying out.

Human activity, including greenhouse gas emissions, are largely to blame, say the experts, who also warn of the economic costs of the loss of biodiversity.

Planet Ark