World leaders are gathering at the United Nations this week to discuss climate change, and amid all the rhetoric and promises about decreasing emissions within a certain number of years, something revolutionary and, more importantly, binding is being negotiated. It’s the global climate change treaty, and it’s expected to be finished around December.

About 200 countries’ leaders are weighing in on the treaty negotiations, and if it is enacted, it could include a proviso to preserve the world’s remaining tropical forests. Each year, a swath of forests the size of England are destroyed, contributing about 20 percent of total worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, according to CNN. That’s more than all the world’s cars and trucks combined. However, under the proposed provision, the  carbon dioxide that is caught and stored in these forests, which is released into the atmosphere when the forests are destroyed, would instead be bought and sold like any other commodity.

The provision, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), works like this: Essentially, major polluters in developing countries would start buying credits for the amount of carbon dioxide they can use. The money will go to developing forest protection programs. Once the tropical forests are assigned a value, it may provide an economic incentive to preserve them.

But before REDD can take effect, world leaders must agree on the treaty, which will be designed as a follow-up to Kyoto, which expires in 2012. There’s a lot more to the global climate change treaty and to REDD than what I’ve touched on here, but here are a few articles if you’re interested in educating yourself:

Obama warns recession makes climate change fight harder

Investors worth $13 trillion urge strong global climate treaty

United Nations framework convention on climate change

What are your hopes for the treaty? Do you think REDD is a good provision to include? What sorts of steps would you like to see global leaders take in addressing climate change?