The rainforests hold the key to taming El Niño's destruction

Healthy forests protect our climate and moderate our weather. As the 'Godzilla' El Nino builds in the weeks ahead of Paris talks, it is a timely warning that deforestation is partly to blame for its impacts

Indonesia is smouldering and Godzilla is to blame. But even though this is reality, not a monster movie, there is still a hero: the tropical rainforest.

This year's El Nino, the ocean-traveling climate cycle notorious for throwing the weather off kilter, is nicknamed "Godzilla". While it is projected to deliver plenty of rain to some parts of the world, including drought-parched California, it is already causing dangerously dry conditions in the tropics. Papua New Guinea, for example, is experiencing its worst drought in decades, which spells doom for coffee and food crops.