Recent scientific information has added another twist to the issue. It is now universally recognised that deforestation causes about 20 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. This means that cutting down trees is more destructive to the planet than the entire global transport sector. It is this final "loss" that has convinced the international community of the urgent need for forest protection.

Negotiations on the next commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (the United Nation's treaty for stopping global warming) must be decided by the end of 2009. Because deforestation is a comparatively cheap and easy way to radically cut greenhouse gas emissions, it must play a role in the new agreement. Furthermore, to be really effective, deforestation in the tropical forests of Brazil, the Congo Basin and the Paradise Forests (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea) must end by 2015.

Given that most tropical forests are situated in developing countries, the critical question becomes: How will an end to deforestation be financed?

Greenpeace believes that the next treaty must include a new global, market-linked fund, overseen by the UNFCCC (The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), which would provide financing to protect the world's remaining tropical forests. Our blueprint for such a mechanism is called "Forests for Climate".

The "Forests for Climate" mechanism differs from other proposals in that it limits offsets by rich countries, thereby ensuring that large greenhouse gas emitters like the US and China also effectuate emissions reductions at home. Stopping deforestation is essential, yet alone will not bring greenhouse gas emissions down to levels that would halt climate change.

Forests for Climate also ensures protection of biodiversity, and insists upon the participation and the protection of rights of indigenous peoples. Not only do indigenous peoples often depend on the forests for their existence, but they are generally best placed to develop the necessary means of forest monitoring and protection.

And Forests for Climate allows for early financing – because our fragile earth needs protection now.