Top 10 Everything of 2007

#4. Avoided Deforestation

Forests, especially on the tropics, are virtual carbon banks — and when they're cut down, that carbon is released into the atmosphere. At least 80,000 acres of forest disappear from the Earth each day, and deforestation is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global carbon emissions. One way to slow deforestation might be for rich nations to compensate poorer nations for taking care of their tropical trees, but such avoided deforestation deals weren't recognized under the Kyoto Protocol. That looks about to change. In June the World Bank began raising $250 million for a pilot fund for avoided deforestation projects, and with further talks at this year's UN climate summit held in Indonesia — the world's third-biggest carbon emitter, thanks chiefly to the speed at which it is massacring its trees — the idea is gaining momentum.