Britain and Norway - deforestation prevention fund

Britain and Norway have joined forces to create the biggest fund to date aimed at battling deforestation.

The fund, that will consist of £58m from Britain, and £50m from Norway, will be directed at projects happening in the Congo basin rainforest in central Africa, which will be monitored by satellite imaging technology.

The Congo is the 2nd biggest rainforest in the world, twice the size of France, but is declining in size by 25,000 football pitches a day.

The loss of trees accounts for a large proportion of the increased emissions in the atmosphere, but by allocating funds to African Governments and inhabitants of the forests, logging and felling of trees will hopefully become a thing of the past.

Projects that can demonstrate an ability to reduce the destruction of the forest will be eligible for funds, by providing alternative income sources, for example.

High tech methods will be used to monitor their effectiveness.

High definition cameras are being made in the Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Oxfordshire, and these will be mounted on satellites and launched into orbit in the next two years.

The initiative may be expensive, but is cost effective, as reducing emissions by stopping deforestation currently costs £3 per metric tonne, compared to £50-100 a tonne for carbon capture schemes.

The biggest concern and hurdle will be ensuring the funds are spent effectively, but in general the Congo Forest Fund represents a positive step forward for the reduction and future prevention of more carbon emissions.