With the upcoming climate summit scheduled to start on December 7th in Copenhagen, news of more carbon dioxide hitting the atmosphere is no surprise. This story from today's New York Times is no exception. By draining the canals in Indonesia, the country has become one of the biggest offenders when it comes to greenhouse gases.
"Canals — used legally and illegally — extend from surrounding rivers nearly into the peninsula’s impenetrable core. By slowly draining and drying the peat land, they are releasing carbon dioxide, contributing to making Indonesia the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States."
"Forests like the one on the Kampar Peninsula are at the center of a growing battle over the shape of a new climate treaty and efforts to curb the destruction and degradation of forests. Though countries are expected to reach only a broad agreement at next month’s summit meeting in Copenhagen, governments, scientists, businesses and environmentalists are already arguing over what kinds of forests should qualify as carbon reducers and what kinds of projects should be rewarded financially."
To read the entire article, click here.
To read what Boston GreenScene had to say about the upcoming summit, click here.
To read a previous article on CT GreenScene about the benefits of planting trees and how it affects our environment, click here.
Image courtesy of India's Top News.
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