Western countries' interest in preserving rainforests to cut carbon emissions could lead to a "land grab" that pushes indigenous people from their homes, campaigners warned yesterday.

The Rainforest Foundation UK is urging the international community to put forest-dwelling people at the centre of UN talks taking place this week to examine ways of preventing deforestation.

The foundation says it recognises the importance of preventing deforestation - which accounts for around 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year - in tackling climate change.

But the campaigners say efforts to bring deforestation into UN negotiations on climate change could fail if they don't take the rights of people who live in the forests into account.

And preserving the world's forests should not be used as an "escape valve" to allow industrialised countries to carry on producing emissions in the west.

Any measures that cut carbon by preventing forest destruction should be in addition to, not instead of, emissions reductions in the industrialised world, they say.

Nikki Reisch, policy advisor for the Rainforest Foundation UK, said: "Our concern is that the interest in the carbon value of forests could lead to a land grab, motivating outside actors to come in and take over forest areas and drive local people off their land."

And while some governments and investors viewed local communities as the drivers of deforestation, "indigenous people that have lived in and depended on the forests are best placed to protect them", she said.