Rainforest Conservation More Profitable Than Palm Oil Production

Writing in the peer-reviewed journal Conservation Letters on Friday, researchers noted that a system of selling credits to reduce carbon emissions in the Indonesian rainforest could provide a feasible method of conservation.

Authors of the new report stated that paying to reduce rainforest carbon emissions could actually amount to more income than initiatives to use the deforested land for palm oil production.
Lead researcher Oscar Venter, from the University of Queensland, focused his study on Kalimantan, a forested region in Indonesia where plans for deforestation for palm oil production have been under scrutiny.

“Our study clearly demonstrates that payments made to reduce carbon emissions from forests could also be an efficient and effective way to protect biodiversity,” said Venter.

“We now need to see policy discussions catch up with science because at the moment the potential co-benefits of linking forest protection to biodiversity are not getting the attention they deserve.”

Red Orbit