With the media focus on all the political bickering over a new climate deal at the COP16 conference, it's easy to lose sight of the very real concerns that people from all over the world are trying to bring to the attention of delegates at the Cancun talks. Their messages are urgent, sometimes simple and – some would say – occasionally simplistic. But never boring.

Meet Sri Sri Soham Baba, who's come to Cancun with a message that is certainly clear. Listen to what he told GLOBAL IDEAS about it:

We talked to Keith Porter who is a member of the official delegation from Jamaica at the Cancun climate talks. A forester in his home country, he is interested in conservation and reforestation issues and their relevance for our climate. In Cancun his special focus is on the problems that climate change poses particularly for small island states like his home country Jamaica.

 

One of the topics of discussion at COP16 will be something called REDD. What is it? It stands for 'Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation' and it's a UN forest protection program. Basically, wealthy nations pay developing countries to preserve their forests, and in return they get "carbon credit" to use in the global carbon trading industry. Some countries, like Indonesia, are already taking part in the project. What do you think? Is this a good way to save our forests?