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How much would you pay for rainfall and carbon sinks?
Posted by tracy on 9 September 2008.
After this summer I would be willing to empty my account for some sunshine, but rainforest are rarely seen has having value beyond the commodities they produce. Last night Panorama looked at the important issue of the value of our rainforests to the planet. Known as ecosystem services, forests "influence weather systems on a vast scale, produce rainfall and capture CO2 from the atmosphere, reducing global warming".
We pay nothing for these vital services while one truck load of rare hardwood from the Amazon can fetch up to £40,000.
Panaorama's Ben Anderson travelled to the Amazon to look at the value of a living forest and how we might use market forces to protect what is left of the Amazon rainforest. Our own Andre Muggiati from the Amazon office makes an appearance talking about the destruction commodity crops have caused.
It's worth a watch on BBC's iPlayer if you missed it last night.