13.3.5.3 Conclusion regarding voluntary carbon sequestration

Concluding this section 13.3.5 on PES, it can be argued that voluntary carbon sequestration through REDD and agricultural sequestration services represents an interesting innovative business approach because it can contribute to the mitigation of climate change, the conservation of biodiversity (i.e. preservation of biodiversity through forest conservation), and equitable and sustainable development (REDD can direct financial flows to some of the world's poorest regions).1 Furthermore, REDD supports a stabilisation of the rain required for a productive agriculture in a vast area around the preserved forests. One of the leading biologists and specialists in REDD, Dr Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, stated: "the costs of forest conservation are modest and deforestation is a massive source of emissions, so slowing deforestation is like plucking the low-hanging fruit - there's a lot of benefit for not a lot of cost. And of course we're not just storing carbon; we're also saving the world's most biologically important real estate, providing a place for local and indigenous peoples, and helping to stabilise delicate soils and reduce catastrophic

flooding."2