REDD+
"Deforestation and forest degradation, through agricultural expansion, conversion to pastureland, infrastructure development, destructive logging, fires etc., account for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire global transportation sector and second only to the energy sector. It is now clear that in order to constrain the impacts of climate change within limits that society will reasonably be able to tolerate, the global average temperatures must be stabilized within two degrees Celsius. This will be practically impossible to achieve without reducing emissions from the forest sector, in addition to other mitigation actions.
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is an effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. "REDD+" goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks."
The world's forestry and plant life serve as "the lungs of the world", removing pollution from the air that we breathe. Tiny openings on their leaves, called stomata (zoological origin: "mouths") take in gases that include ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon, and nitrogen dioxide, and converts them into oxygen.
Comparing the relationship between the diminishing state of our forests with the anatomy of our bodies has served as the crux of my inspiration. The images of a dying plant are representative of the cyclic nature of life, whereas the symmetry of the leaves in the second image, bifurcate like ribs, exposing "vessels" and a "heart".
