Rain in Spain falls mainly on the forest

It's a good thing Spain is developing wind energy and concentrated solar power, because they are facing emissions levels of 37 percent above their 1990 levels. They are allowed only a 15 percent increase under the Kyoto Protocol agreement. So they plan to sink 20 percent of the excess carbon dioxide by re-foresting.

clipped from www.smh.com.au Two of Spain's regional governments and its capital city plan to plant millions of trees to help offset the impact of the country's spiralling greenhouse gas emissions, environment officials said on Thursday. Spain's emissions in 2006 were 48 percent above their level in 1990. It aims to offset 20 percentage points of that via United Nations-approved clean energy projects in developing countries, and a further 2 points by planting trees. Castilla-La Mancha, an extensive, rural region on Spain's central plain, has already increased its forested area by 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) to 5 million hectares. It now plans to plant 20 million trees in the next four years. Madrid is also planting. "We will also plant 1.5 million trees, which will absorb 9,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year," Ana Botella, the head of the city hall's environmental department, said. 10,000 new trees will also be planted in the Basque Country. Global Warning Climate Change Energy

World Bank money now grows on trees

Incentives to avoid deforestation is big business on a warming globe.

clipped from online.wsj.com FREE PREVIEW World Bank Targets Forest Preservation-Climate Link By Tom Wright Word Count: 926 JAKARTA, Indonesia -- The global effort to stem climate change could soon include paying countries in the tropical belt to not cut down their rain forests, beginning with a World Bank pilot project. The World Bank is planning to start a $250 million investment fund to reward countries such as Indonesia, Brazil and Congo for "avoided deforestation." Until now, efforts under the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to cut greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, have centered on reducing emissions from industries. The Group of Eight leading nations, after meeting last week in Germany, concluded that stopping deforestation could ... • THE FULL WSJ.com ARTICLE IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS. Global Warning Climate Change Energy