A “Ghost forest” has been set up next to the Danish parliament. It designed to be a stark reminder of the threat faced by rainforests, the lungs of out planet.

Talk Planet asked the artist being the project what she aimed to achieve with her installation, and what her Talk Planet question would be for a rainforest expert.

“Well, I started this because I’m an artist, and I became very alarmed by the statistics that a rainforest of the size of a football pitch is being destroyed every 4 seconds,” explained Angela Palmer. “These trees are from Ghana. They are exercising responsible and sustainable forestry. So what I would like to ask is, are there any other countries in the world also excercising sustainable and responsible forestry like Ghana ?”

Talk Planet expert Arild Angelsen, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, has the answer:

“There are many. You know there are about 100 tropical countries and 40 of these are really trying to make good national plans how to reduce emissions from deforestation,” he said.

So why have most deforestation projects been unsuccessful?

“Poor farmers need the land but also the big companies,” Arild stressed. “They cut the trees because they make money, so the whole idea behind this ‘Redd’ concept, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation, is really to pay for taking care of the forest. They make more money from conserving the forest rather than chopping down the trees.”

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