WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs to take the lead in preserving tropical forests in the fight against climate change, a coalition of lawmakers, corporate chiefs and environmentalists said on Monday.
Deforestation accounts for 20 percent of the carbon emissions that spur global warming, members of the Avoided Deforestation Partners coalition told a Capitol Hill forum.
The U.S. Congress is expected to take up legislation this year -- possibly as soon as this month -- to tackle climate change, aiming to come up with policies that will help the United States and other countries forge a new international agreement to succeed the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol.
"Without the leadership of the United States of America, everybody else will say, maybe this is not as serious as it seems," Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told the group. "If America is not concerned, then it cannot be a serious issue."
Maathai said three great tropical forests -- the Amazon in South America, the Congo in Africa and the jungles of Southeast Asia -- are the "lungs" of the world, acting to lock up vast amounts of carbon dioxide.
U.S. urged to save forests to curb climate change
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