A United Nations official in Bali yesterday hailed an initiative
by China to set up a regional network on forest rehabilitation and
sustainable management.
"It is a fantastic move if the network is put in place and in
practice," said Wulf Killmann, chairman of the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Interdepartmental Working Group on
Climate Change, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
President Hu Jintao had put forward the initiative at the 15th
Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the Asia- Pacific Economic
Cooperation in Australia in September.
The initiative seeks to set up an Asia-Pacific network on forest
rehabilitation and sustainable management aimed at coping with
climate change.
Killman, who is in Bali for the UN Climate Change Conference,
said the network is expected to help reduce deforestation and
contribute to the implementation of the Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation in Developing Countries proposal, which involves
creating new financial incentives for developing countries and
empowering them to slow down their rates of deforestation.
The UN official added that the network is set to contribute to
the sustainable management of forests in Asia and the Pacific, and
help reduce carbon emissions from deforestation.
FAO figures showed that deforestation is estimated to have
occurred at an alarming rate of 13 million hectares a year in the
period from 1990 to 2005, accounting for 20 percent of global
annual greenhouse gas emissions in the late 1990s and making it the
world's second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Killman cited China as "a good example" in addressing the issue
of deforestation, saying that it is "one of the countries with the
highest rate of replanting".
(China Daily December 7, 2007)
