Britain and Norway created a £108 million (US$210.7 million) fund on Tuesday to help save the world’s second-largest rainforest, central Africa’s Congo Basin, with the help of satellite imaging technology.
The fund is intended to provide African governments and people living in the rainforest with a viable alternative to logging and mining. The Congo rainforest is about twice the size of France, but is dwindling at a rate equal to 25,000 soccer fields a week.
MONITORED FROM ABOVE
Projects will be eligible for funds if they can demonstrate they can curb the destruction of forest by providing alternative sources of income or energy, for example.
Their effectiveness will be monitored from above by high-definition cameras, which are to be mounted on satellites and launched into space in the next two years.
“We are pledging to work together to secure the future of one of the world’s last remaining ancient forests,” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the scheme’s launch yesterday.
Britain initiated the fund and is providing £58 million.
“Preserving our forests is vital if we are going to reduce global emissions,” Brown said.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, whose government is putting £50 million into the scheme over three years, as part of a broader £300 million a year forest initiative, said the money spent was the most immediate and cost-effective way to combat greenhouse gas emissions.
COST EFFICIENT
The estimated cost of reducing emissions through stopping deforestation is £3 per tonne of carbon dioxide, compared with between £50 and £100 per tonne for carbon capture schemes.
British and Norwegian officials said the biggest challenge would be ensuring that the money is effectively spent. The Congo rainforest sprawls across Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Across large swaths, particularly in the DRC, corruption is rife, while mining and logging companies are prepared to offer large rewards to communities and regional authorities to open up their forests.
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
‘VIOLATIONS OF DISCIPLINE’: Miao Hua has come up through the political department in the military and he was already fairly senior before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday. Miao Hua (苗華) was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes to corruption. It is the third recent major shakeup for China’s defense establishment. China in June
RSS