CHEAP DEAL
Two Norwegian companiesTree Farms and Norwegian Afforestation Groupare leasing several thousand hectares of land in east Africa from the respective governments to plant trees and make profits through sale of credits based on carbon dioxide stored in the plantations to industrialised countries.
The companies lease the areas for a 50-year period. Apart from a one-off sum (us $312) paid in the beginning regardless of the size of the leased areathe government authorities receive only a measly annual rent of us $3 for each hectare planted with trees.
No rent is to be paid for areas not planted and there is nothing to prevent the companies from leaving that area unplanted. They might even lease it out for other activities and the governments have no say in that.
Calculations for 4260hectares of land planted by Tree Farms in Uganda clearly show that the deal heavily favours the companies. As opposed to US $319500to be paid to Ugandan forest authorities as rent over a growth period cycle of about 25 yearsTree Farms stands to gain US $28.8 million in terms of profits through the probable sale of carbon credits. By all accountglobal warming debate seems to have provided yet another market to the
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