Cancun outcomes are expected tomorrow. With low expectations, many are hoping at least a single agreement to save forests will be agreed upon.

Climate hopes rooted in trees?

An MEP planting a tree  won’t save the world,

but it highlights  the hottest question in Cancun.

MEPs see REDD, Reducing Emissions  from Deforestation and Degradation

as the only agreement possible.  Others are even less optimistic.

I’m a little bit sceptical  about the outcome.

It is very difficult  to measure deforestation.

There are big differences between Brazil  on the one hand and Congo on the other.

Yet each year, an estimated 13 million  hectares of forest is destroyed.

That's equivalent to the area  of a country like Greece.

Annual deforestation releases more C02  than all the world’s transport.

The problem is a tree saved  is a dollar lost to the locals.

Leaders in Cancun are trying to find  a way to compensate them via a fund.

The long-term financing  is a much bigger heavy weight

and reflection on how this can be  delivered is another big issue,

where I hope that cornerstones  can be debated here,

but will be decided  next year in Durban.

If politicians be it at European,  national or international level

and only deal with  one question at a time.

I don’t think we’ll have  a very interesting outcome,

Although REDD  has been hailed a Cancun win,

it has been criticised for endangering  the livelihoods of indigenous peoples

and may eventually be at the root  of a future climate controversy.