Saving Amazonian trees with cold, hard cash

The Brazilian government is trying a new scheme to cut its carbon emissions and slow down the rate of deforestation in the Amazon. It’s planning to do that by PAYING local communities to protect forests and stop cutting down trees. BBC Brazil reporter Paulo Cabral has been to visit the first trial project in the Juma reserve, which contains 1 million acres and is home to over 300 families.

During a visit there, he found the approach is changing the attitudes of local people. “The key drivers of deforestation are poverty and lack of education,” Amazonas State Governor Eduardo Braga told him. “Don’t ask for one mother and one father to keep one standing tree if their kid is crying because they’re going to say ?I’m going to save my kid and I don’t care about this tree.'”