Countries are Showing Their Cards on Logging Emissions

Countries have begun to post their proposed reference levels (baselines) for measuring and accounting for emissions from forest management. The following countries' submissions are now up on the UN Climate Change Secretariat's webpage: Norway, Russian Federation, Switzerland, New Zealand, Canada.

These reference levels will fundamentally determine whether industrialized countries are held accountable for changes in emissions from logging.

Check back here for an assessment of these reference levels.

My initial assessment is that leadership and environmental integrity is largely lacking and that real emissions from logging will be hidden in many of these reference levels.