Fred Pearce in the New Scientist is at it again!
The world badly needs an independent carbon police to check the figures and catch the carbon frauds.
Can science deliver?
Carbon police?
Verifying national emissions requires both “bottom-up” independent oversight of the inventories, and better “top-down” monitoring of the atmosphere, says Matthias Jonas of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenberg, Austria.
A new climate treaty will also need carbon sniffers in tropical forests, especially in countries that sign up to a part of the deal called REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). REDD would offer cash to countries that conserve their forests so they can soak up atmospheric CO2. This means knowing how much carbon is actually being absorbed by the forests. In August, a study of Peruvian forests by Greg Asner of Stanford University, California, found existing estimates of carbon stored and released could be out by as much as 50 per cent.
Enough said!
The Carbon Police mean business. Trees and plants not absorbing their required amount of carbon dioxide will be punished severely.
10:10
The k2p blog 