Six years ago, runaway Indonesian forest fires led to huge forest losses and dense smoke that caused an estimated 100,000 premature deaths as it drifted across Southeast Asia.

The crisis increased pressure on Jakarta to adopt a more joined-up conservation approach, including merging its environment and forestry ministries.

Now, forest losses have declined for four years in a row, as Indonesia bucks the trend toward faster deforestation in other tropical forest nations such as Brazil.

Protecting nature is crucial not only to stem climate change and protect human health, scientists say - it may also reduce the risk of armed conflict.

Researchers at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that growing competition for natural resources is fuelling tensions in places like Africa's Lake Chad basin - but there has been less violence within the boundaries of protected areas.

Sustainable use of nature "supports livelihoods and wellbeing of indigenous and local communities in times of peace and helps reduce the risk of conflicts breaking out", said Kristen Walker, of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy.

Another way to keep the peace - and bring greater fairness - as the world pushes ahead on climate action is to share out the cash coming from carbon taxes.

Such carbon charges, which are increasingly being levied on companies, are designed to make goods reflect the true environmental cost of their production but they can push up the price of essential products, which hits the poor hardest.

Handing 5% of the money rich nations raise from carbon taxes to sub-Saharan Africa, for example, would counter the impact of rising prices on the world's poorest people, researchers say.

"You can create this win-win situation where you can reduce emissions and at the same time achieve a reduction in poverty," says Bjoern Soergel, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

What other ideas could make climate action fairer? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

See you next week!

Laurie

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