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If rainforest countries are to allow their forests to remain, rich countries must help pay the bill. It costs money to save the rainforests. 

Not long ago, Sumatra was covered by thick rainforest. Most of this species-rich, irreplaceable rainforest is now gone. The Sumatran Tiger is almost extinct, as is a large number of other unique species that depended on the rainforest for their survival. The destruction of the rainforests has made Indonesia one of the world’s worst climate-polluting countries. When emissions from deforestation are taken into account, the country is in third place on the worldwide list of emissions, with only the US and China releasing more greenhouse gases each year.

But there is a reason that the rainforest is being cut down. Locally, the financial rewards are great. For this reason, countries with rainforests and the people who live in the forests must be compensated for keeping the forest intact as a global reservoir for carbon and bio-diversity. It must be as profitable to allow the forest to stand as it is for them to cut it down. Rainforest countries are dependent upon rich countries to help them cover the costs of looking after the forest.  The Norwegian government’s finance initiative, which allocates up to three billion kroner a year to conserving the forest, is an important start towards an international finance programme of this sort. Even if we must accept footing the greater part of the bill, the reward is a relatively inexpensive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.