Keeping the world’s remaining forests standing is one of the most important environmental challenges of the 21st century. …In the race to create incentives to preserve forests rather than cut them down, the carbon-offsetting market has taken centre stage. Scientific research and journalistic investigations, however, indicate that many of these schemes are essentially “hot air” and failing to protect forests as promised. As some major firms reassess their use of forest credits, it raises questions about how we pay for and incentivise the protection of these crucial ecosystems. Here are five ways that experts have suggested we could tip the balance in favour of keeping forest ecosystems alive:

1. Pay countries to look after forests
2. Ban goods that harm forests
3. Introduce a global tax
4. Swap a developing country’s debt for spending on nature
5. Reform the carbon and biodiversity markets