GIVE tropical forests back to the people who live in them 鈥 and the trees will soak up your carbon for you. Above all, keep the forests out of the hands of government. So concludes a study that has tracked the fate of 80 forests worldwide over 15 years.
Most tropical forests 鈥 from Himalayan hill forests to the Madagascan jungle 鈥 are controlled by local and national governments. Forest communities own and manage little more than a tenth. They have a reputation for trashing their trees 鈥 cutting them for timber or burning them to clear land for farming. In…
