More must be done to tackle deforestation

Federal Labor welcomes reports of a partnership between Australia and Indonesia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as part of the Global Initiative on Forests and Climate which was announced in March 2007.

Tackling this challenge is a useful and cost effective way to reduce the 20-25 per cent contribution of deforestation and other land use changes to global emissions.

The Government should build on this weekend’s positive announcement by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and arguing for avoided deforestation to be included in global climate change commitments beyond 2012.