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topic: Payments For Ecosystem Services
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To reverse deforestation and protect biodiversity, build a bioeconomy in the Amazon (commentary)
- Slowing and reversing deforestation and land degradation in the Amazon requires not only conservation efforts but also increasing the economic value of standing primary forests through a bioeconomy approach, argues Robert Muggah, co-founder of Instituto Igarapé.
- A bioeconomy involves regenerative agriculture, sustainable energy, and other activities that leverage the forest’s natural assets while ensuring economic benefits for local communities. However, the expansion of the bioeconomy faces challenges, including resistance from extractive sectors, investment risks, and the need for infrastructure, research, and support for local enterprises.
- Despite these hurdles, advancing the bioeconomy is essential for sustainable development and decarbonization in the Amazon and crucial for the world, says Muggah.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
What drives and halts tropical deforestation? Analyzing 24 years of data
- Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 320 studies covering a period of 24 years, to identify the key drivers of tropical deforestation.
- Deforestation is driven largely by agriculture and cattle ranching, building roads, expanding cities into forests, and population growth.
- Factors halting deforestation include steeper, less accessible terrain, stronger protections for parks and reserves, Indigenous land management, commodity certification programs, and payments for ecosystem services.
- Researchers say they hope the study can be “a resource to guide policies and management toward actions that help reverse deforestation.”
Does the Global Biodiversity Framework give due consideration to market mechanisms? (commentary)
- The recently approved “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” is meant to guide countries’ efforts to conserve biodiversity.
- It provides specific guidance on how its targets may be achieved, and in that sense, takes a regulatory approach.
- The authors of a new op-ed argue that market mechanisms must also be highly considered, given the ability of things like sustainably certified products to fetch higher prices while generating benefits for biodiversity, “payments for ecosystem services” programs that generate billions of dollars in annual transactions, and more.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
NGOs alert U.N. to furtive 2-million-hectare carbon deal in Malaysian Borneo
- Civil society organizations have complained to the United Nations about an opaque “natural capital” agreement in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.
- The agreement, signed behind closed doors in October 2021, involved representatives from the state government and Hoch Standard Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean firm. But it did not involve substantive input from the state’s numerous Indigenous communities, many of whom live in or near forests.
- The terms ostensibly give Hoch Standard the right to monetize carbon and other natural capital from Sabah’s forests for 100 years.
- Along with the recent letter to the U.N., the state’s attorney general has questioned whether the agreement is enforceable without changes to key provisions. An Indigenous leader is also suing the state over the agreement, and Hoch Standard may be investigated by the Singaporean government after rival political party leaders in Sabah reported the company to Singapore’s ambassador in Malaysia.
Indigenous-led report warns against ‘simplistic take on conservation’
- To deal with climate change and biodiversity loss effectively and equitably, conservation needs to adopt a human rights-based approach, according to a new report co-authored by Indigenous and community organizations across Asia.
- Unlike spatial conservation targets such as “30 by 30,” a rights-based approach would recognize the ways in which Indigenous people lead local conservation efforts, and prioritize their tenure rights in measuring conservation success.
- Without tenure rights, strict spatial conservation targets could lead to human rights abuses, widespread evictions of Indigenous communities across Asia, and high resettlement costs, the report warned.
- Also without tenure rights, the inflow of money into nature-based solutions such as carbon offsets and REDD+ projects could also result in massive land grabs instead of benefiting local communities.
Malaysian officials dampen prospects for giant, secret carbon deal in Sabah
- The attorney general of the Malaysian state of Sabah has said that a contentious deal for the right to sell credits for carbon and other natural capital will not come into force unless certain provisions are met.
- Mongabay first reported that the 100-year agreement, which involves the protection of some 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) from activities such as logging, was signed in October 2021 between the state and a Singapore-based firm called Hoch Standard.
- Several leaders in the state, including the attorney general, have called for more due diligence on the companies involved in the transaction.
- Civil society representatives say that a technical review of the agreement is necessary to vet claims about its financial value to the state and its feasibility.
Indigenous leader sues over Borneo natural capital deal
- An Indigenous leader in Sabah is suing the Malaysian state on the island of Borneo over an agreement signing away the rights to monetize the natural capital coming from the state’s forests to a foreign company.
- Civil society and Indigenous organizations say local communities were not consulted or asked to provide input prior to the agreement’s signing on Oct. 28.
- Further questions have arisen about whether the company, Hoch Standard, that secured the rights under the agreement has the required experience or expertise necessary to implement the terms of the agreement.
Is colonial history repeating itself with Sabah forest carbon deal? (commentary)
- To the surprise of Indigenous and local communities, a huge forest carbon conservation agreement was recently signed in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.
- Granting rights to foreign entities on more than two million hectares of the state’s tropical forests for the next 100-200 years, civil society groups have called for more transparency.
- “Is history repeating itself? Are we not yet free or healed from our colonial and wartime histories?” wonders a Sabahan civil society leader who authored this opinion piece calling for more information, more time, and a say.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Details emerge around closed-door carbon deal in Malaysian Borneo
- Leaders in Sabah have begun to reveal information about a nature conservation agreement signed in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo for the rights to carbon and other natural capital.
- The deal allegedly covers rights to more than 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of the state’s tropical forests for the next 100-200 years.
- Indigenous and civil society groups have called for more transparency.
- In response to the public reaction to news of the agreement, its primary proponent, Deputy Chief Minister Jeffrey Kitingan, held a public meeting but has declined to make the agreement public yet.
Bornean communities locked into 2-million-hectare carbon deal they don’t know about
- Leaders in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, signed a nature conservation agreement on Oct. 28 with a group of foreign companies — apparently without the meaningful participation of Indigenous communities.
- The agreement, with the consultancy Tierra Australia and a private equity-backed funder from Singapore, calls for the marketing of carbon and other ecosystem services to companies looking, for example, to buy credits to offset their emissions.
- The deal involves more than 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of forest, which would be restored and protected from mining, logging and industrial agriculture for the next 100-200 years.
- But land rights experts have raised concerns about the lack of consultation with communities living in and around these forests in the negotiations to this point.
Indigenous Land in the Brazilian Amazon is a brake on deforestation and may start generating carbon credits
- A study says that Brazil’s Puyanawa Indigenous people will prevent around 6,400 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2025, equivalent to about $38,000 annually.
- Practices such as putting agricultural activities in previously degraded areas, forest restoration and agroforestry have prevented deforestation in their western Amazon reserve, which has dropped by half in recent years.
- The latest survey from Brazilian mapping project Mapbiomas shows that the country’s forests and native vegetation are best preserved in Indigenous territories.
Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- As the world searches for solutions to global climate change, tree planting has become increasingly popular, with ambitious campaigns aiming to plant billions or trillions of trees.
- These projects often have other environmental goals, too, like regulating water cycles, halting soil erosion and restoring wildlife habitat. They also often have socioeconomic goals, like alleviating poverty.
- But how effective is planting trees at accomplishing all this, and how strong is the evidence for this effectiveness? To find out, Mongabay engaged a team of researchers who conducted a non-exhaustive review of relevant scientific literature.
- We detail the results below, as part of Mongabay’s special “Conservation Effectiveness” series. Research by Zuzana Burivalova, Rodrigo Mendes and Sharif Mukul.
As COP26 looms and tropical deforestation soars, REDD+ debate roars on
- The United Nations REDD+ program (reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) has been operating for more than 13 years as a multipurpose initiative, intended to curb deforestation in tropical nations, sequester forest carbon, combat climate change, protect biodiversity, and aid poor rural communities.
- The REDD+ mechanism is largely paid for by wealthy industrialized countries contributing funds to less developed tropical nations, including those in the Amazon, Congo Basin and Indonesia.
- Some 600 REDD+ projects have been initiated to date (with some 400 still active), mostly implemented by socioenvironmental NGOs or for-profit project developers, and financed by more than $10 billion in donor funds in more than 65 countries. But evidence of avoided deforestation and reduced carbon emissions is controversial.
- With the COP26 Glasgow climate summit looming in November, Mongabay invited experts to weigh in on the global initiative’s successes and failings, with some supporting expansion of REDD+ via revised program rules and funding, while others support major reforms, or even the initiative’s replacement.
Government inaction prompts voluntary REDD+ carbon credit boom in Brazil
- With the Bolsonaro government largely indifferent to participating in a carbon credit market, and amid intensifying pressure from clients and investors, a voluntary carbon credit market is booming in Brazil. The country, however, still doesn’t have any regulation about how and by whom credits can be issued.
- REDD+ projects that issue carbon credits for reforesting or avoiding deforestation have caught the attention of financial market players. Amid the new carbon credit trading firms, such as financial technology company Moss, and other initiatives, Brazilian projects offer both examples of success and failure in forest preservation.
- REDD+ supporters argue Brazil’s voluntary carbon credit market is allowing small-scale farmers and Indigenous and traditional people to get in the game, benefiting them financially, and helping conserve forests and protect the Earth’s climate.
- But critics say it’s difficult to ensure that forest conservation promises made today can be kept in the future, especially in a nation notorious for illegal deforestation and record forest fires. Also, protecting one area can simply drive the deforestation to another area.
Ambitious return to carbon markets to conserve Africa’s forests
- Growth of voluntary carbon market and new investor interest in natural climate solutions in Africa prompts The Nature Conservancy to launch effort to help local enterprises raise $300 million for forest conservation.
- The Africa Forest Carbon Catalyst will initially identify existing projects with potential to protect 100,000 hectares of natural forest or sequester three million tonnes of CO2 over 10 years.
- Clarifying and securing the rights, involvement, and benefits for local communities is a key challenge.
REDD+ carbon and deforestation cuts in Amazon overestimated: Study
- A new study analyzed 12 REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) voluntary projects conducted in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Researchers found that the projects’ claimed reductions in forest loss and carbon emissions were seriously overstated due to poorly set deforestation rate baselines that didn’t properly account for other successful forest loss reductions that were achieved separately by the Brazilian government.
- To correct this problem in future, the researchers expressed the “need to better align project- and national-level carbon accounting,” while at the same time striking a balance between “controlling conservation investment risk and ensuring the environmental integrity of carbon emission offsets.”
- Suggestions for achieving more reliable carbon accounting include: only taking into account the most recent years of deforestation, relying on more complex models that look at the price of agricultural commodities, and comparing deforestation to similar areas not involved in REDD+ projects.
Podcast: From parks to payments, which conservation strategies work best?
- This is the 100th episode of the Mongabay Newscast! We revisit Mongabay’s groundbreaking Conservation Effectiveness reporting project in order to see what developments there have been since we did the initial reporting three years ago.
- Joining us today are Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler, who tells us about the impetus for the series of reports that would become Conservation Effectiveness, what the main findings were from the project, and the new developments over the past three years that might help fill the gaps in our understanding of conservation impacts.
- We also speak with Sven Wunder, a principal scientist at the European Forest Institute in Barcelona, Spain as well as a senior associate at the Center for International Forestry Research, or CIFOR. Wunder actually spoke with me back in 2017 for the piece I wrote about PES as part of the Conservation Effectiveness series, and we’ve spoken again for this episode of the podcast so he can fill us in on the latest research into the impact of a variety of conservation strategies.
We need a green life support plan (commentary)
- Tourism — much of it nature-based – comprises 2% of sub-Saharan African nations’ GDP, which can rise to up to 38% for some countries. It is also critical to sovereign credit analysis, giving countries access to capital markets, external financing and funds to support government programs, including nature-based tourism. But with the collapse of international tourism in response to COVID-19, sub-Saharan African countries are facing credit rating downgrade risks, putting conservation funding at risk.
- Without income from nature-based tourism, many small- and medium-size enterprises in the nature-based tourism sector risk closure, and wildlife conservation will be seriously compromised as landowners and locals could be incentivized to convert conserved land into agriculture production and partake in illegal activities such as overfishing, with significant negative results for countries’ nature-based assets.
- With the long-term sustainability of these nature-dependent economies threatened, the authors argue for standardized, methodical and systemic funding for the conservation, protection and restoration of the natural capital.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
In the battle to save forests, a make-or-break moment for REDD+
- In Part Two of this series delving into REDD+, Mongabay looks at whether it can still accomplish the stated mission, what it would take to make that happen, and why, despite more than a decade of disappointment and controversy, REDD+ true believers still hold out hope.
- REDD+ advocates have now hung their hopes on a private sector suddenly hungry to buy carbon credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Private sector demand for carbon credits, they hope, will increase the volume and push up the price of REDD+ carbon credits, both of which are necessary to drive much-needed financing into forest conservation.
- In early 2020, this hope appeared closer than ever to becoming a reality — then the coronavirus pandemic hit, causing private sector demand for carbon credits to plummet. Some of this decrease could turn out to be short term, but demand from at least one key sector, the airline industry, could take years to rebound.
- Another challenge facing REDD+ is a disagreement over whether individual project developers should be allowed to sell carbon credits directly to buyers, or if that should be left to the countries or states where the projects are located.
The U.N.’s grand plan to save forests hasn’t worked, but some still believe it can
- Part one explores REDD+’s evolution up to the present: how a lofty plan meant to generate large-scale financing for global forest conservation and climate mitigation became a patchwork of individual projects and programs that have failed to achieve the central goal of curbing deforestation.
- Recent developments could represent something of a turning point for REDD+, including the first large-scale, “results-based” funding — the conditional financial incentives seen as key to REDD+’s success — from the U.N.-REDD Programme and the World Bank, and a surge in private-sector dollars for forest conservation and reforestation projects that could mark the beginning of a significant new source of cash.
- However, challenges remain to delivering REDD+ at its intended scale, not least of which is the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, which could potentially trip up progress just as REDD+ looked poised to gain some real ground.
Market-based solutions cannot solely fund community-level conservation (commentary)
- In the last two decades, conservation and the market economy merged into what is called “neoliberal conservation,” where economic growth and the protection of nature are thought to be essentially compatible.
- However, conservation in places like North Sumatra will be last on the agenda when markets tumble and the economic system that people are now addicted to – in even the most remote places – collapses.
- Schemes like ecotourism and payment for ecosystem services should be paired with programs like sustainable local agriculture to prevent the re-emergence of poaching and illegal logging, and to ensure that conservation-oriented behaviors persist when markets fail.
- This article is a commentary and does not necessarily reflect the views of Mongabay.
Tourism has crashed: Are carbon credits the future for funding conservation in Africa?
- Protected areas in Africa are grossly underfunded, leaving them exposed to degradation.
- Tanzania’s Yaeda Valley REDD+ project demonstrates how carbon credits can provide communities and governments economic incentives to protect valuable habitat.
- Real potential to replicate the model elsewhere — and ensure conserving carbon stocks leads to conserving wildlife — remains uncertain.
Investing in Amazon Rainforest Conservation: A Foreigner’s Perspective (commentary)
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been trending upward since 2012, with a sharp acceleration since January 2019.
- Jonah Wittkamper, President of the Global Governance Philanthropy Network and co-founder of NEXUS, reviews the current situation and provides a perspective on how it might be possible to slow or reverse deforestation by investing in Amazon rainforest conservation.
- Wittkamper wrote this report to help guide investors and philanthropists on their learning journeys on the issue.
- This post is a commentary and does not necessarily reflect the views of Mongabay.
Tropical forests’ lost decade: the 2010s
- The 2010s opened as a moment of optimism for tropical forests. The world looked like it was on track to significantly reduce tropical deforestation by 2020.
- By the end of the 2019 however, it was clear that progress on protecting tropical forests stalled in the 2010s. The decade closed with rising deforestation and increased incidence of fire in tropical forests.
- According to the U.N., in 2015 global forest cover fell below four billion hectares of forest for the first time in human history.
Biodiversity ‘not just an environmental issue’: Q&A with IPBES ex-chair Robert Watson
- The World Bank and IMF meetings from Oct. 14-20 will include discussions on protecting biodiversity and the importance of investing in nature.
- A recent U.N. report found that more than 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.
- In a conversation with Mongabay, Robert Watson, who chaired the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services that produced the report, discusses the economic value of biodiversity.
Altered forests threaten sustainability of subsistence hunting
- In a commentary, two conservation scientists say that changes to the forests of Central and South America may mean that subsistence hunting there is no longer sustainable.
- Habitat loss and commercial hunting have put increasing pressure on species, leading to the loss of both biodiversity and a critical source of protein for these communities.
- The authors suggest that allowing the hunting of only certain species, strengthening parks and reserves, and helping communities find alternative livelihoods and sources of food could help address the problem, though they acknowledge the difficult nature of these solutions.
’Unprecedented’ loss of biodiversity threatens humanity, report finds
- The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released a summary of far-reaching research on the threats to biodiversity on May 6.
- The findings are dire, indicating that around 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.
- The full 1,500-page report, to be released later this year, raises concerns about the impacts of collapsing biodiversity on human well-being.
Community buy-in stamps out elephant poaching in Zambian park
- No elephants were poached in Zambia’s North Luangwa National Park in 2018, and the surrounding area had a 50 percent decrease in poached carcasses found.
- The North Luangwa Conservation Programme, a partnership between the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the country’s Department of Parks and Wildlife, has been around since the late 1980s and has focused its efforts on community involvement in stopping poachers from going after elephants, rhinos and other wildlife in the park.
- Staff of the program say the participation of the communities living near the park’s borders is critical to protecting the elephants of North Luangwa.
- The broader Luangwa ecosystem is home to more than 63 percent of Zambia’s elephants.
Scientists urge overhaul of the world’s parks to protect biodiversity
- A team of scientists argues that we should evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas based on the outcomes for biodiversity, not simple the area of land or ocean they protect.
- In a paper published April 11 in the journal Science, they outline the weaknesses of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, which set goals of protecting 17 percent of the earth’s surface and 10 percent of its oceans by 2020.
- They propose monitoring the outcomes of protected areas that measure changes in biodiversity in comparison to agreed-upon “reference” levels and then using those figures to determine how well they are performing.
Study concludes that nature benefits when more women make land management decisions
- A study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) and published in the journal Nature Climate Change last month explored whether or not gender quotas for local governing bodies could help reduce deforestation while addressing local inequalities at the same time.
- For the study, researchers traveled to 31 villages near collectively managed forests in three developing countries — Indonesia, Peru, and Tanzania — and asked 440 forest users in those communities to play a tabletop simulation game in which they had to make decisions about how many trees to harvest from a shared forest. The participants were divided into groups of eight, and half the groups were required to have women as 50 percent of their members. The other half of the groups had no gender quotas.
- The authors write in the study that their results “show that gender quotas make interventions more effective and lead to more equal sharing of intervention benefits.”
The biggest rainforest news stories in 2018
- This is our annual rainforests year in review post.
- Overall, 2018 was not a good year for the planet’s tropical rainforests.
- Rainforest conservation suffered many setbacks, especially in Brazil, the Congo Basin, and Madagascar.
- Colombia was one of the few bright spots for rainforests in 2018.
New research quantifies ecosystem services provided by Amazon rainforest
- New research published in the journal Nature Sustainability this month attempts to establish the monetary value of the ecosystem services provided by the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon.
- Researchers estimated that, in total, the Amazon contributes as much as $8.2 billion to Brazil’s economy on an annual basis. Some $3.3 billion of that total is generated from privately owned forest areas, they found, while areas under protection, sustainable use areas, and indigenous lands together contribute $3 billion.
- In the study, the researchers write that their findings can help inform tropical forest conservation measures, such as Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes, that allow for sustainable use of forests — and that their findings show the importance of conserving the rainforest not only to protect its rich biodiversity but also to ensure the sustainability of agricultural production in Brazil.
Tracking the shift of tropical forests from carbon sink to source
- Improved maps of carbon stocks, along with a better understanding of how tropical forests respond to climate change, are necessary to meet the challenge of keeping the global temperature below a 2-degree-Celsius (3.6-degree-Fahrenheit) rise, according to scientist Edward Mitchard of the University of Edinburgh.
- Currently, tropical forests take up roughly the same amount of carbon as is released when they’re cleared or degraded.
- But climatic changes, which lead to more droughts and fires resulting in the loss of tropical trees, could shift the balance, making tropical forests a net source of atmospheric carbon.
Forest communities pay the price for conservation in Madagascar
- In a two-year investigation of a REDD+ pilot project, a team of researchers spoke with more than 450 households affected by the establishment of a large protected area called the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor, a 3,820-square-kilometer (1,475-square-mile) tract of rainforest in eastern Madagascar.
- The REDD+ project, supported by Conservation International and the World Bank, was aimed at supporting communities by providing support for alternative livelihoods to those communities near the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor protected area.
- They found that the REDD+ project’s preliminary studies identified less than half of those negatively affected by the Corridor’s designation.
- The team also discovered that the value of the one-off compensation, in the form of support to pursue other livelihoods, fell far short of the opportunity costs that the communities are likely to face as a result of losing access to the forest in the coming decades.
Payments for ecosystem services can boost social capital in addition to forest management: Study
- New research finds that a national payments for ecosystem services (PES) program in Mexico not only benefits the environment but supports social relationships in local communities, as well.
- Two US-based economists, Oregon State University’s Jennifer Alix-Garcia and Amherst College’s Katharine Sims, led a team that looked at how participation in PES programs impacted social relationships in Mexico’s agrarian communities — local governance structures that make joint decisions about land management and are formally recognized by the Mexican government. Approximately half of forested land in Mexico is governed under these communal structures.
- As detailed in PNAS, the researchers found that participation in Mexico’s PES program improved “community social capital” — defined as “the institutions, relationships, attitudes, and values that govern human interactions” — by 8 to 9 percent.
Researchers propose framework for designing PES programs that better deliver socioeconomic benefits
- The authors of a study recently published in the journal Science Advances developed a framework for examining the numerous ways Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs affect socioeconomic outcomes by taking into account how PES programs are linked to various livelihood activities.
- The researchers applied their framework to two PES programs in China’s Wolong Nature Reserve, both designed to reduce the degradation of panda habitat due to human activities like agricultural expansion, timber harvesting, and fuelwood collection.
- They found that households in Wolong Nature Reserve would have been better off financially had they not enrolled their land in either of these PES programs and instead continued to grow and sell crops.
- The researchers write that using their framework for understanding all of the underlying effects on local livelihoods, however, it is possible for conservation practitioners to anticipate obstacles and design management strategies for PES programs that improve their socioeconomic performance.
New research examines spread of payments for ecosystem services around the globe
- There are currently more than 550 PES programs active around the world in developed and developing countries alike, and more than $36 billion in annual transactions have been made through these programs, according to a study published last month in the journal Nature Sustainability.
- Researchers found that PES programs designed to protect watersheds have seen the largest volume of global transactions and have spread the farthest worldwide, with $24.7 billion in transactions across 62 countries in 2015.
- Little research has focused on the question of whether or not any benefits of PES are sustained after payments cease, according to another study recently published in Nature Sustainability. But that research suggests that paying rural villagers to cut down fewer trees can not only boost conservation efforts while the payments are being made but even after they’re discontinued.
Report finds projects in DRC ‘REDD+ laboratory’ fall short of development, conservation goals
- The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) released a new report that found that 20 REDD+ projects in a province in DRC aren’t set to address forest conservation and economic development — the primary goals of the strategy.
- The Paris Agreement explicitly mentions the role of REDD+ projects, which channel funds from wealthy countries to heavily forested ones, in keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius this century.
- RRI is asking REDD+ donors to pause funding of projects in DRC until coordinators develop a more participatory approach that includes communities and indigenous groups.
Illegal cattle ranching deforests Mexico’s massive Lacandon Jungle
- According to authorities and residents, cattle from Central America are brought to Mexico illegally over the porous border with Guatemala and left to graze in the Lacandon Jungle, a protected area.
- The Lacandon Jungle in Chiapas state once covered 1.5 million hectares. Today, it is only a third of that size and continuing to shrink.
- A potent mix of poverty, porous borders and lack of government control of protected areas has contributed to the proliferation of small cattle ranches throughout the area, which, combined, have a major impact on the ecosystem.
Ecotourism payments for more wildlife sightings linked to conservation benefits in Laos
- A four-year research project in a national protected area in Laos established a connection between higher payments for more wildlife sightings and improved protections for wildlife.
- Over the course of the study, sightings of common wildlife rose by more than 60 percent.
- Payments were funded by the entry fees paid by tourists.
- They were placed in village development funds, which would then finance projects like school construction and healthcare.
Carbon pricing could save millions of hectares of tropical forest: new study
- Recently published research in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that setting a price of $20 per metric ton (about $18/short ton) of carbon dioxide could diminish deforestation by nearly 16 percent and the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by nearly 25 percent.
- The pair of economists calculated that, as things currently stand, the world stands to lose an India-size chunk of tropical forest by 2050.
- In addition to carbon pricing, stricter policies to halt deforestation, such as those that helped Brazil cut its deforestation rate by 80 percent in the early 2000s, could save nearly 1 million square kilometers (386,000 square miles).
Maps tease apart complex relationship between agriculture and deforestation in DRC
- A team from the University of Maryland’s GLAD laboratory has analyzed satellite images of the Democratic Republic of Congo to identify different elements of the “rural complex” — where many of the DRC’s subsistence farmers live.
- Their new maps and visualizations allow scientists and land-use planners to pinpoint areas where the cycle of shifting cultivation is contained, and where it is causing new deforestation.
- The team and many experts believe that enhanced understanding of the rural complex could help establish baselines that further inform multi-pronged approaches to forest conservation and development, such as REDD+.
Carbon dreams: Can REDD+ save a Yosemite-size forest in Madagascar?
- When Makira Natural Park launched in 2005, it seemed to present a solution to one of the most intractable problems in conservation: finding a source of funding that could be counted on year after year.
- The sale of carbon offset credits would fund the park itself as well as development projects aimed at helping nearby communities improve their standard of living and curtail deforestation.
- But more than a decade later, carbon buyers are scarce and much of the funding for community development has been held up. And although deforestation has slowed considerably in and around Makira, it is falling well short of deforestation targets set at the outset of the project.
- This is the seventh story in Mongabay’s multi-part series “Conservation in Madagascar.”
Experience or evidence: How do big conservation NGOs make decisions?
- Scientists have been urging conservation NGOs to make decisions based on scientific evidence.
- However, the big conservation NGOs run into many problems in trying to use the available science. Doing impact evaluations of their own projects is also hard and expensive, sources from the big conservation NGOs say.
- For their work to be effective, the conservation community needs to develop a common understanding of what credible evidence means, how to best use different strands of evidence, and how organizations can evaluate their work and create evidence that others can use, experts across the conservation spectrum seem to agree.
- This story is part of a special Mongabay series on “Conservation Effectiveness.”
Audio: Indonesian rainforests for sale and bat calls of the Amazon
- This episode of the Mongabay Newscast takes a look at the first installment of our new investigative series, “Indonesia for Sale,” and features the sounds of Amazonian bats.
- Mongabay’s Indonesia-based editor Phil Jacobson joins the Newscast to tell us all about “Indonesia for Sale” and the first piece in the series, “The palm oil fiefdom.”
- We also speak with Adrià López-Baucells, a PhD student in bat ecology who has conducted acoustic studies of bats in the central Amazon for the past several years. In this Field Notes segment, López-Baucells plays some of the recordings he used to study the effects of Amazon forest fragmentation on bat foraging behavior.
Cash for conservation: Do payments for ecosystem services work?
- What can we say about the effectiveness of payments for ecosystem services (PES) based on the available scientific literature? To find out, we examined 38 studies that represent the best evidence we could find.
- The vast majority of the evidence in those 38 studies was still very weak, however. In other words, most of the studies did not compare areas where PES had been implemented with non-PES control areas or some other kind of countervailing example.
- On average, the more rigorously designed studies showed very modest reductions in deforestation, generally of just a few percentage points. Meanwhile, the majority of the available evidence suggests that payments were often too low to cover the opportunity costs of agricultural development or other profitable activities that the land could have been used for.
- This is part of a special Mongabay series on “Conservation Effectiveness.”
Randomized controlled trial in Uganda finds that paying people not to cut down trees works
- Researchers with Northwestern University in the United States conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 121 villages in a region with high rates of deforestation and forest degradation.
- Sixty villages participated in the PES scheme from 2011 to 2013 and were paid 70,000 Ugandan shillings (currently worth slightly less than $20, but worth $28 in 2012 dollars) per hectare to conserve their forests, while 61 formed the control group and received no compensation.
- The researchers found that, during the study period, tree cover declined by 4.2 percent in villages that were part of the program, less than half of the 9.1 percent tree cover loss in control villages.
Successful Colombian rainforest project exposes problems with carbon emissions trading
- The Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor, as the community’s REDD+ project is called, is the first REDD+ project to be certified in Colombia. In 2012 it was the first REDD+ project operating on community land in the world.
- COCOMASUR, an organization representing 2,600 Afro-Colombians, utilizes a team of forest rangers to monitor the tropical rainforest.
- Despite their success, now the community is struggling to get compensated due to a carbon trading market that has “bottomed out.”
Jurisdictional certification approach aims to strengthen protections against deforestation
- Jurisdictional certification brings together all stakeholders across all commodities within a district or state to ensure the entire region is deforestation-free.
- A few tropical forest regions have long used the jurisdictional approach; with proven success, more regions are now following suit.
- Pilot programs in Brazil and elsewhere exemplify the successes and challenges of the jurisdictional approach.
Guyana focuses deforestation prevention efforts on conservation and management
- Almost 90 percent of Guyana’s roughly 750,000 residents live in coastal areas outside of the forests, which contributes to the preservation of the country’s intact forest landscape.
- Over the past two decades, deforestation rates in Guyana have ranged from between 0.02 percent to 0.079 percent – far less than many other tropical countries.
- Gold mining appears to be the biggest threat to Guyana’s forests, driving approximately 85 percent of the country’s deforestation in 2014.
World’s most endangered fruit bat could soon be extinct due to rapid forest loss
- The rare bat is found only on two small islands of Anjouan and Mohéli in the Comoros archipelago, off the southeast coast of Africa.
- Around 19 of the 21 remaining bat roost sites have been affected either by tree cutting, agricultural encroachment or soil erosion.
- This bat may possibly have the lowest population estimate among all fruit bats, researchers suggest.
Sudden sale may doom carbon-rich rainforest in Borneo
- Forest Management Unit 5 encompasses more than 101,000 hectares in central Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo.
- The area’s steep slopes and rich forests provide habitat for the Bornean orangutan and other endangered species and protect watersheds critical to downstream communities.
- Conservation groups had been working with the government and the concession holder to set up a concept conservation economy on FMU5, but in October, the rights were acquired by Priceworth, a wood product manufacturing company.
Which tropical forest conservation strategies are proving most effective?
- A multitude of conservation strategies are currently deployed across the tropics in order to curb deforestation, preserve biodiversity, and mitigate global warming.
- But conservationists and researchers often point to a need for more and better evaluations of the effectiveness of this diversity of conservation initiatives in order to determine what actually works and what doesn’t.
- The latest assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization found that Earth’s overall natural forest cover continues to shrink, though at a slower annual rate than in the past.
Could REDD help save an embattled forest in Cambodia?
- REDD in Cambodia has faced many obstacles, but now one long-awaited project has just gotten the green light to proceed.
- Wildlife Alliance is pushing forward with a REDD project that aims to finance the newly established Southern Cardamom National Park’s ongoing protection.
- In an October 2016 interview with Mongabay.com, Gauntlett spoke about the Southern Cardamoms and her hopes for the project.
The Guiana Shield, the ‘greenhouse of the world’
- Covering 270 million hectares, the Guiana Shield encompasses Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela and small parts of Colombia and northern Brazil
- Some experts are warning against ‘commoditizing nature’ in the case of the Shield
- Indigenous populations could play a key role in the Shield’s future health
Can conservationists overcome their differences to save life on Earth?
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future.
- The series explores how the world’s biggest conservation groups have embraced a human-centric approach known as “new conservation” that has split the field over how best to save life on Earth.
- It also investigates the role of big money in pushing conservation agendas, and the field’s changing relationship with people living in areas targeted for conservation.
- Jeremy Hance reported the Conservation, Divided series over the course of eight months. Stories ran weekly in April and May, generating intense interest from readers.
10 reasons to be optimistic for forests
- It’s easy to be pessimistic about the state of the world’s forests.
- Yet all hope is not lost. There are remain good reasons for optimism when it comes to saving the world’s forests.
- On the occasion of World Environment Day 2016 (June 5), the United Nations’ “day” for raising awareness and encouraging action to protect the planet, here are 10 forest-friendly trends to watch.
Epilogue: Conservation still divided, looking for a way forward
- Ideas promoted under a new philosophy in conservation that focuses on nature’s service to humanity merit continued trial and a fair hearing, Hance writes, but they also require ongoing scrutiny.
- Likewise, Hance writes that the world’s biggest conservation groups, which have embraced the new philosophy, have made major achievements in recent years. But widespread dissatisfaction with their methods within the conservation community means they, too, deserve questioning.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories ran weekly between April 26 and May 17.
Conservation’s people problem
- Since its beginnings, conservation has had a people problem. An ugly history of marginalizing indigenous and local communities living in ecosystems designated for protection has made re-gaining trust and building relationships with these groups one of the toughest aspects of conservation today.
- In Part 4 of Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance explores how the field has shifted to embrace local communities as partners in conservation — and the work that remains to be done.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories are running weekly between April 26 and May 17.
Conservation today, the old-fashioned way
- There used to be one way to do good conservation: save a species and protect some land or water. But as the human population has exploded, the atmosphere warmed, the oceans acidified, and the economy globalized, conservation has, not surprisingly, shifted.
- In Part 3 of Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance explores how some conservationists are continuing to focus on traditional methods, even as the field shifts around them.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories are running weekly between April 26 and May 17.
How big donors and corporations shape conservation goals
- In Part 2 of Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance explores how major donors at foundations, governments, and corporations are pushing conservation groups to adopt a human-centric approach known as “new conservation” that some critics say leaves wildlife and wild lands out in the cold.
- Meanwhile, cozy relationships with environmentally destructive corporations have prompted long-running arguments that some of the world’s biggest conservation groups have lost sight of their environmental missions. Yet big conservation and corporations are closer than ever.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories are running weekly between April 26 and May 17.
Has big conservation gone astray?
- In Part 1 of Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance explores how the world’s biggest conservation groups have embraced a human-centric approach known as “new conservation” that has split the field over how best to save life on Earth.
- Neither side of the debate disagrees that conservation today is failing to adequately halt mass extinction. But how to proceed is where talks break down, especially when it comes to the importance of protected areas and the efficacy of the biggest, most recognizable groups.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories will run weekly through May 17.
Conservation, Divided: in-depth series starts Tuesday
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future.
- Veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance completed the series over the course of eight months.
- Conservation, Divided launches next Tuesday, April 26. Stories will run weekly through May 17.
Researchers say you get what you pay for when it comes to payments for ecosystem services
- Researchers at Michigan State University wanted to determine whether or not programs that compensate local communities monetarily for their active participation in conservation efforts really works.
- Their study focuses on China’s National Forest Conservation Program, which aims to restore forests and habitat for the endangered giant panda, an important “umbrella species.”
- The MSU researchers say their results show the power of engaging forest communities in payments for ecosystem services schemes.
The state of the market for ecosystem services
- Payments for ecosystem services programs involve evaluating the monetary value to society of natural “services,” such as clean water, biodiversity, or reduced atmospheric carbon, and then compensating people who manage land that provides these services.
- The concept has been around for about a century, but took off around the globe about fifteen years ago.
- Both the philosophy behind attaching an economic value to a natural process and its practical application have proved to be controversial, complicated, and difficult.
Carbon storage for sale: USDA grants promote markets for ‘ecosystem services’
- In September, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced its 2015 round of Conservation Innovation Grants. The agency awarded 45 grants totaling about $20 million for projects to improve soil health and to develop environmental markets.
- The environmental markets projects are part of a relatively new approach to conservation known as “payment for ecosystem services.” The idea is to be able to quantify certain seemingly intangible environmental functions, like carbon sequestration, and make it easier and more attractive for investors to buy and sell them in a bid to put more money into conserving natural resources.
- The payment for ecosystem services approach has gained many proponents since it was popularized in 2005, but also detractors.
Norway pays Brazil $1B to fulfill pledge for curbing deforestation
- Norway ponies up $1B to fulfill pledge to Brazil for success in reducing deforestation.
- Forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon in 2014 was 75% below the 1996-2005 baseline.
- But there are signs deforestation may be rising again.
Fighting fire with money: can finance protect Indonesia’s forests?
Part 3 of 5 of a series on palm oil financing. Part I and Part II. Note: this article draws heavily from Seymour el al 2015. Rainforest canopy seen from the base of a ‘compass tree’ in Sumatra. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. In previous articles, we have seen an overview of the problems with […]
Campaign asks consumers to directly support forest conservation
Brazilian rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Click to enlarge. A new campaign is calling on consumers to directly support forest conservation with their wallets. “Stand For Trees” is an initiative launched by Code REDD, a marketing platform for a group of organizations running REDD+ forest conservation projects. Code REDD partners distinguish themselves by adhering […]
Ecosystem services pioneer wins $1M award
Forests like this rainforest in Borneo provide an array of ‘ecosystem services’ including carbon storage, flood and erosion control, transpiration, climate moderation, and biodiversity, among others. Forest Trends, a non-profit that is working to develop market-based tools and approaches to value ecosystems for the services they afford, has won a million dollar award from the […]
Financial pledges for REDD+ slow to be disbursed, finds report
Map of REDDX countries. Only a small fraction of the $7.3 billion pledged under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) program has actually been disbursed, find a new report that tracked REDD+ finance in seven countries. The REDD+ eXpenditures Tracking Initiative (REDDX) initiative, led by Forest Trends, analyzed REDD+ financial flows between 2009 […]
Turning point for Peru’s forests? Norway and Germany put muscle and money behind ambitious agreement
Norway pledges $300 million if Peru tackles deforestation crisis by 2021 From the Andes to the Amazon, Peru houses some of the world’s most spectacular forests. Proud and culturally-diverse indigenous tribes inhabit the interiors of the Peruvian Amazon, including some that have chosen little contact with the outside world. And even as scientists have identified […]
Saving the Atlantic Forest would cost less than ‘Titanic’
Brazil can protect and restore Mata Atlântica for 6.5 percent of what it spends on agricultural subsidies Want to save the world’s most imperiled biodiversity hotspot? You just need a down payment of $198 million. While that may sound like a lot, it’s actually less than it cost to make the film, Titanic. A new […]
U.S. govt puts financial muscle behind REDD+ forest carbon conservation projects
Rainforest in Sumatra. Photos by Rhett Butler The U.S. government will put financial support behind an initiative that offers finance for emissions-reducing forest conservation projects. In an announcement made during the Carbon Expo conference in Cologne, Germany, Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will lend up to $133.8 […]
Next big idea in forest conservation? Making community protection economically viable
Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q & A with Dr. Neil David Burgess Rural scene in Tanzania. Photo by: Nika Levikov. After years of discovering new species and setting up protected areas, Neil Burgesses’ career changed. Currently he is focused on community-driven conservation and on how to improve protected areas in Africa’s Eastern Arc mountains […]
U.N.: We can save world’s forests at a fraction of cost of fossil fuels subsidies
Cumulative deforestation and population growth. Courtesy of UNREDD Investing $30 billion a year in forest conservation — less than seven percent of the $480 billion spent annually on fossil fuels subsidies — could help stop deforestation while accelerating a transition toward a greener global economy, asserts a new report published by the International Resource Panel […]
Reduced impact logging failing to cut emissions in Indonesia
Advocates for reduced impact logging in tropical forests often make a case that better forest management cuts carbon emissions relative to traditional forms of timber harvesting. While the argument for altering logging approaches to limit forest damage makes intuitive sense, a new study suggests that the carbon benefits may not bear out in practice. Bronson […]
REDD+ could fail without near-term financial support
Deforestation in Riau Province, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. An ambitious plan to save the world’s tropical forests by valuing them for the carbon the store may fail to reduce deforestation unless governments and multilateral institutions significantly scale up financial commitments to the program, argues a new report published by the Global Canopy Programme, […]
How “insect soup” might change the face of conservation
Much of what we know about patterns of biodiversity has come from extensive fieldwork, with expert researchers sampling and identifying species in a process that takes thousands of man-hours. But new technologies may revolutionize this process, allowing us to monitor changes in biodiversity at speeds and scales unimaginable just a decade ago. A new paper […]
REDD+ program to cut deforestation gets final approval in Warsaw
Rainforest in Sabah. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Negotiators in Warsaw have reached formal agreement on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), a program that aims to compensate tropical countries for protecting their forests. After seven years of discussions, countries approved the final REDD+ text on Friday. The document includes provisions on safeguards; addressing […]
Prize exploring the next big idea in rainforest conservation announced
Mongabay.org, a non-profit that aims to raise awareness about social and environmental issues relating to tropical forests and other ecosystems, has announced the first winner of its environmental reporting prize under its Special Reporting Initiative (SRI) program. The prize sought proposals to explore the question of “What’s the next big idea in tropical biodiversity conservation?”. […]
REDD+ carbon market stabilizes, but risk of supply glut looms
The state of the REDD+ carbon market in 2012 Logging, conversion to plantations and agriculture, and other drivers of deforestation account for roughly ten percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions The market for carbon credits generated under projects that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) showed signs of stabilizing in 2012 after a […]
Redeeming REDD: a conversation with Michael Brown
In Redeeming REDD: Policies, Incentives and Social Feasibility for Avoided Deforestation, anthropologist Michael Brown relays a constructive critique of the contemporary aims, standards and modalities for mitigating climate change by reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). Brown advocates for REDD as a viable mechanism for the long-term pro-poor conservation and restoration of tropical forests […]
Credits from first African government-backed REDD+ project go on sale
Carbon credits generated from protecting thousands of hectares of endangered rainforest in northeastern Madagascar have now been certified for sale, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the project’s main organizer. The development represents the first time that credits generated by African government-owned project have been put on the voluntary carbon market. The Makira REDD+ Project […]
Amazon rainforest tribe sells REDD+ credits to Brazilian cosmetics giant
The Paiter-Suruí, a rainforest tribe that in June became the first indigenous group to generate REDD+ credits under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), has now closed their first deal. As reported by Ecosystem Marketplace, Brazilian cosmetics giant Natura Cosméticos has purchased 120,000 tons of carbon offsets from the the Surui Forest Carbon Project in Rondônia, […]
California’s next innovation: performance-based rainforest conservation (Commentary)
Often misunderstood, REDD+ forest carbon offsets are a “must have” for any realistic climate-change mitigation strategy. Californians are known as innovation leaders, and once again, we are on the verge of demonstrating critical leadership. Only this time it isn’t about the Internet, social networking, reality television, venture capital or electric cars. It is about stopping […]
Developer of Indonesia’s first REDD+ project confirms status of forest conservation initiative
Infinite Earth, the developer behind Indonesia’s first approved REDD+ project, has refuted an NGO’s claims that the project has been only partially approved by the Indonesian government. In a statement sent to Mongabay.com, Infinite Earth confirmed that its Rimba Raya project in Central Kalimantan has an ecosystem restoration permit for more than 36,000 hectares of […]
Billions lost to corruption in Indonesia’s forest sector, says report
Corruption and mismanagement in Indonesia’s forest sector have cost the government billions of dollars in losses in recent years, including over $7 billion in losses from 2007-2011, Human Rights Watch said in a report released yesterday. The report also blasted the country’s “green growth” strategy, saying that despite recent reforms, Indonesia’s forestry policies as they […]
Brazilian state to pay counties that cut Amazon deforestation
The Brazilian state of Pará has launched a new compensation scheme to incentivize further cuts in deforestation. Using a stipulation that allows Brazilian states to determine how a quarter of taxes on sales of goods and services are distributed, last week Pará established the Green Value Added Tax (ICMS). The system will provide payments to […]
Indonesia’s first REDD project finally approved
Rimba Raya, the world’s largest REDD+ project, has finally been approved by the Indonesian government and verified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), a leading certification standard for carbon credits. The 64,000-hectare forest carbon project in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan Province on the island of Borneo is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 119 million […]
Market for REDD+ carbon credits declines 8% in 2012
The market for carbon credits generated from projects that reduce deforestation and forest degradation — a climate change mitigation approach known as REDD+ — dipped eight percent in 2012 according to an annual assessment of the global voluntary carbon market. The report, published by Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New Energy Finance and slated to be […]
How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature – An interview with Mark Tercek
In 2008, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) surprised the conservation world when it selected Mark Tercek, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, as its new president and CEO. For people familiar with Tercek, however, the move made perfect sense: he was a leading figure in Goldman’s efforts to pursue new environmental policies. In 2005, Tercek became […]
Featured video: local communities successfully conserve forests in Ethiopia
A participatory forest management (PFM) program in Ethiopia has made good on forest preservation and expansion, according a recent article and video interview (below) from the Guardian. After 15 years, the program has aided one community in expanding its forest by 9.2 percent in the last decade, while still allowing community access to forest for […]
Conservation policies that boost farm yields may ultimately undermine forest protection, argues study
Rising agricultural profitability due to higher prices, improved crop productivity, and forest conservation itself could make it increasingly difficult for conservation programs tied to payments for ecosystem services to succeed, warns a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The prediction is based on a model that forecasts […]
6 lessons for stopping deforestation on the frontier
Mongabay.com is partnering with the Skoll Foundation ahead of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship to bring a series of perspectives that aim to answer the question: how do we feed the world and still address the drivers of deforestation? HOW DO WE FEED THE WORLD AND STILL ADDRESS THE DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION? Soy, […]
Progress in incentive-based protection of forests and other watersheds
There are two ways to look at Charting New Waters: State of Watershed Payments 2012 – the latest report released by Forest Trends on incentive-based water protection. One is that investments in watershed protection are fast approaching a tipping point – rising 25% from the previous year and with 25% of all recorded investments occurring […]
Panama’s indigenous people drop REDD+
Giant kapok (‘Big Tree’) in Panama’s rainforest. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The National Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples in Panama (COONAPIP) has announced it is withdrawing from the United Nation’s REDD+ program following a series of disagreements. The exit of COONAPIP from the negotiating table with UN officials and the Panamanian government will likely be […]
Innovative idea: wildlife income may help people withstand drought in Africa
Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. Getting local people to become invested in wildlife conservation is not always easy, especially in parts of the world where protected areas are seen as taking away natural resources from local communities. This tension lies around Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, where a growing population of livestock herders competes with […]
The need to jump-start REDD to save forests
Mongabay.com is partnering with the Skoll Foundation ahead of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship to bring a series of perspectives that aim to answer the question: how do we feed the world and still address the drivers of deforestation? HOW DO WE FEED THE WORLD AND STILL ADDRESS THE DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION? Soy, […]
A promising initiative to address deforestation in Brazil at the local level
Mongabay.com is partnering with the Skoll Foundation ahead of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship to bring a series of perspectives that aim to answer the question: how do we feed the world and still address the drivers of deforestation? HOW DO WE FEED THE WORLD AND STILL ADDRESS THE DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION? Soy, […]
Can saving forests help feed the world?
Mongabay.com is partnering with the Skoll Foundation ahead of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship to bring a series of perspectives that aim to answer the question: how do we feed the world and still address the drivers of deforestation? HOW DO WE FEED THE WORLD AND STILL ADDRESS THE DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION? Soy, […]
China’s forest privatization move threatens pandas
Giant Panda. China’s decision to open up collective forest for sale by individuals to outside interests will put 345,700 hectares or 15 percent of the giant panda’s remaining habitat at risk, warns a letter published in the journal Science. The letter, authored by a team of researchers including scientists from Conservation International and Chinese institutions, […]
Over $8 billion invested in watersheds in 2011
How a sample payment for ecosystem services project works. Click to enlarge. Unlike cars, hamburgers, and computers, clean drinking water is a requirement for human survival. In a bid to safeguard this essential resource, more and more nations are moving toward protecting ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and streams. In fact, according to a new […]
Split Derivatives – Sandor’s argument for financial innovation for the environment tells us little other than his life story
The problems of Good Derivatives begin with the title: the book does not discuss derivatives at length, nor is there a coherent thesis proposing that they are “good.” Equally misleading is the subtitle; financial innovation is merely referenced within the larger story, and environmental innovation is not even mentioned until late in the book. Only […]
Reducing the risk that REDD+ will shift conservation funding away from biodiverse forests
One of the major concerns about the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degrdatation (REDD+) program is that it could prioritize conservation of high carbon ecosystems like peatlands over high biodiversity landscapes, effectively shifting conservation funding away key wildlife-rich areas. A new paper, published in Tropical Conservation Science, analyzes the issue and suggests approaches that could […]
Unique program to leave oil beneath Amazonian paradise raises $300 million
Black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) with fly near its eye in an ox-bow lake in Yasuni National Park. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. The Yasuni-ITT Initiative has been called many things: controversial, ecological blackmail, revolutionary, pioneering, and the best chance to keep oil companies out of Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park. But now, after a number of ups […]
Colombia gets world’s first VCS validated and verified REDD project on collective lands
Rainforest in the Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor REDD+ Project area. The Choco-Darien is the first community-owned REDD project in the world to have completed both VCS validation and verification. The project has been issued carbon credits. A conservation project in Colombia has broken new ground in the world of forest carbon credits. The project, run as […]
As forest carbon credit market grows, REDD fails to keep pace, finds report
Indigenous groups in Panama wait for UN REDD to meet promises
Giant ceiba tree in Panamanian rainforest. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A dispute over the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) in Panama has pitted the United Nations (UN) against the nation’s diverse and large indigenous groups. Represented by the National Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples in Panama (COONAPIP), indigenous groups charge that […]
Experts: sustainable logging in rainforests impossible
Logging in Gabon, Central Africa. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Industrial logging in primary tropical forests that is both sustainable and profitable is impossible, argues a new study in Bioscience, which finds that the ecology of tropical hardwoods makes logging with truly sustainable practices not only impractical, but completely unprofitable. Given this, the researchers recommend […]
In Rio, 5 big companies to launch initiative to boost demand for REDD+ carbon credits
Amazon rainforest. Five large corporations have launched an effort to boost demand for carbon credits from “high quality” Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) projects in tropical countries. Insurance giant Allianz, French retail conglomerate PPR, energy companies Eneco and Entega, and South African bank Nedbank have pledged to buy millions of dollars in emissions […]
Voluntary carbon market reaches $576 m in 2011
Sumatran elephant in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler The voluntary carbon offset market reached a three-year high in 2011, according to the State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report released this week. Volume hit $576 million in 2011, trailing only 2008 when $776 million in voluntary carbon credits where traded. Two-thirds of […]
Can loggers be conservationists?
Sawmill in Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Last year researchers took the first ever publicly-released video of an African golden cat (Profelis aurata) in a Gabon rainforest. This beautiful, but elusive, feline was filmed sitting docilely for the camera and chasing a bat. The least-known of Africa’s wild cat species, the African golden cat […]
As world bodies dally, private sector, local governments forge ahead on valuing nature
Shifts in the carbon market, according to Forest Trends. Click image to enlarge Despite slow progress via the U.N. process and other intergovernmental bodies, national governments, municipalities, and the private sector are moving ahead with initiatives to measure and compensate the value of services afforded by ecosystems, said a leading forestry expert speaking on the […]
Recognizing value of nature could boost income for the world’s poor
The rural poor would substantially boost their income if the ecological services of the ecosystems they steward were valued and compensated by the rest of the world, claims a new study published in the journal Bioscience. The study assessed the value of benefits from receive from healthy and functioning ecosystems — including crop pollination, foods […]
Indonesia could earn billions from well-designed deforestation-reduction program, finds study
Indonesia could have earned $5 billion in revenue and avoided 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions between 2000 and 2005 had a reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) program been in place, reports an assessment published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Jonah Busch, a forest economist for Conservation […]
Ecuador makes $116 million to not drill for oil in Amazon
A possibly ground-breaking idea has been kept on life support after Ecuador revealed its Yasuni-ITT Initiative had raked in $116 million before the end of the year, breaking the $100 million mark that Ecuador said it needed to keep the program alive. Ecuador is proposing to not drill for an estimated 850 million barrels of […]
Yasuni ITT: the virtues and vices of environmental innovation
Collared puffbird (Bucco capensis) in Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. As the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place in Durban, Ecuador has embarked on the development of a project presented as highly innovative. This project targets Yasuni […]
Jump-starting REDD finance: $3 billion Forest Finance Facility needed to halve deforestation within a decade
Amazon rainforest in Peru. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. How to finance a means to reduce deforestation, which contributes emissions equivalent to the entire transport sector combined, has had some encouragement at the UN Climate meeting in Durban this week. An à la carte approach, where no source is ruled out, is emerging, leaving the […]
Forest carbon projects rake in $178 million in 2010
An aerial view of an Amazon tributary in Peru, one of the top countries for projects in the young forest carbon market. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Investors funneled $178 million into forest carbon projects intended to mitigate global climate change last year, according to a new report by Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace. By trading […]
EcoCommerce 101: adding an ecological dimension to the economy
EcoCommerce 101: Adding an Ecological Dimension to the Economy provides a foundation for an analysis of environmental economics from the perspective of a theorist and a practitioner. The author, a fifth-generation farmer living in the USA with a background in economics, separates his book into three easy-to-read sections. Each section is filled with examples through […]
South Sudan’s choice: resource curse or wild wonder?
This commentary was originally published in February, but given that South Sudan has just celebrated independence over the weekend, we thought it apt to re-publish. Oryx and WCS Cessna shadow, Boma National Park. Photo by Paul Elkan and J. Michael Fay. ©2007 National Geographic/ Wildlife Conservation Society. After the people of South Sudan have voted […]
Apakah Indonesia kehilangan asetnya yang paling berharga?
Berikut ini adalah versi asli satu editorial, berjudul Will Indonesia lose the next oil palm?, yang muncul hari ini di the Jakarta Post. Hutan hujan Indonesia di Kalimantan. Foto oleh Rhett Butler, Maret 2011 Jauh di hutan hujan Kalimantan Malaysia di akhir tahun 1980-an, para peneliti mendapat penemuan luar biasa: kulit dari sejenis pohon rawa […]
Germany backs out of Yasuni deal
Germany has backed out of a pledge to commit $50 million a year to Ecuador’s Yasuni ITT Initiative, reports Science Insider. The move by Germany potentially upsets an innovative program hailed by environmentalists and scientists alike. This one-of-a-kind initiative would protect a 200,000 hectare bloc in Yasuni National Park from oil drilling in return for […]
Environment versus economy: local communities find economic benefits from living next to conservation areas
Forest temple in protected area in Thailand. Photo by: Katharine Sims. While few would question that conserving a certain percentage of land or water is good for society overall, it has long been believed that protected areas economically impoverish, rather than enrich, communities living adjacent to them. Many communities worldwide have protested against the establishment […]
Dengan Moratorium Indonesia menuju pertumbuhan ekonomi rendah karbon
Artikel ini adalah versi asli editorial Tempo. Kalimantan Barat Pada akhir 1980 di pedalaman hutan Malaysia, peneliti menemukan sejenis tanaman yang hidup dirawa gambut yang mengandung serum anti HIV. Selang setahun kemudian, ketika para peneliti itu kembali untuk mengambil contohnya, tanaman tersebut telah raib. Raibnya tanaman tersebut menimbulkan kepanikan untuk segera menyimpan spesimen yang ada […]
Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet
Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet challenges us to imaging a world where growth and unmitigated consumption do not equal development. In fact, as clearly described throughout, countries with unmitigated consumption are the underdeveloped countries of the 21st Century expanding our global ecological debt at the expense of countries who are more sophisticated […]
Is Indonesia losing its most valuable assets?
- Deep in the rainforests of Malaysian Borneo in the late 1980s, researchers made an incredible discovery: the bark of a species of peat swamp tree yielded an extract with potent anti-HIV activity.
- An anti-HIV drug made from the compound is now nearing clinical trials. It could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and help improve the lives of millions of people.
- This story is significant for Indonesia because its forests house a similar species. In fact, Indonesia’s forests probably contain many other potentially valuable species, although our understanding of these is poor.
- Given Indonesia’s biological richness — Indonesia has the highest number of plant and animal species of any country on the planet — shouldn’t policymakers and businesses be giving priority to protecting and understanding rainforests, peatlands, mountains, coral reefs, and mangrove ecosystems, rather than destroying them for commodities?
Valuing Ecosystem Services: The Case of Multi-functional Wetlands
Valuing Ecosystem Services: The Case of Multi-functional Wetlands provides the clearest guide yet to describing and implementing in a systematic fashion payments for ecosystems services (PES) strategies for wetland protection mechanisms. By focusing initially on frameworks and obstacles to implementation of wetland protection strategies such as property rights, measuring and monitoring, behavior and compensation, cultural […]
Reforestation program in China preventing future disasters
China’s response to large-scale erosion with reforestation is paying off according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). The 10-year program, known as Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP), is working to turn some 37 million acres back into forest or grasslands after farming on steep slopes in the Yangtze […]
Denver puts water fees toward forest conservation
Like many cities around the world, Denver gets its drinking water from rivers and reservoirs, which in turn get their water from forests. Many of those forests, however, are in trouble – thanks to funding cuts, climate change, and a horde of opportunistic beetles. That puts the city’s water supply at risk as well, so […]
Protecting forests can cut water filtration costs
Clean water doesn’t come cheap. Communities and businesses often rely on expensive water filtration infrastructure to ensure their clean water supplies. But communities around the world have been protecting upstream forests instead of building new, costly water treatment infrastructure. Can this strategy work in the US south? Water treatment is expensive business, and cities around […]
Nigeria moving forward on REDD to protect last remaining forests
The tiny state of Cross River, Nigeria, has managed to preserve large swathes of endangered rainforest despite lucrative – and often intimidating – offers from loggers and other interests. It’s also laid the groundwork for a state-wide program designed to earn international carbon credits by saving trees, thus securing its spot in an elite network […]
As South Sudan eyes independence, will it choose choose to protect its wildlife?
After the people of South Sudan have voted overwhelmingly for independence, the work of building a nation begins. Set to become the world’s newest country on July 9th of this year, one of many tasks facing the nation’s nascent leaders is the conservation of its stunning wildlife. In 2007, following two decades of brutal civil […]
Can ‘water footprinting’ help cut the 500 liters of H2O needed to produce a carton of OJ?
Carbon trading promotes good behavior by creating a standardized currency representing a verifiable environmental benefit. Payments for watershed services do the same for cutbacks in water pollution, albeit on a smaller scale. Now, the Nature Conservancy and the Coca-Cola Company are experimenting with a new method of “water footprinting” that could do the same for […]
Zambia building a carbon exchange
Carbon finance can help rural Africans establish more sustainable ways of doing business, and several efforts are underway to build carbon exchanges that can help project developers identify prices and manage risk. These efforts will only generate meaningful change, however, if the rural poor understand carbon markets and how to access them. The African Carbon […]
First validated REDD forest carbon credits issued
A carbon conservation project in Kenya has become the first to win validation for REDD credits under the Voluntary Carbon Standard. The U.S.-based Wildlife Works said today the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) issued the first REDD-based Voluntary Carbon Units (VCUs) for its Kasigau Corridor REDD project, which protects over 500,000 acres of forest in Rukinga, […]
The ocean crisis: hope in troubled waters, an interview with Carl Safina
The view from Lazy Point. Photo courtesy of Carl Safina. Being compared—by more than one reviewer—to Henry Thoreau and Rachel Carson would make any nature writer’s day. But add in effusive reviews that compare one to a jazz musician, Ernest Hemingway, and Charles Darwin, and you have a sense of the praise heaped on Carl […]
Obama’s State of the Union salmon joke highlights complexity of coastal ecosystem services
U.S. President Barack Obama told his now-famous salmon joke on Tuesday to illustrate the silliness of unnecessarily complex regulation, but the joke says more about the complexity of coastal ecosystems – and the challenge of keeping them intact in the face of growing development – than it does about regulatory dysfunction. It’s a challenge that […]
Oil, indigenous people, and Ecuador’s big idea
An interview with David Romo Vallejos. Ecuador’s big idea—potentially Earth-rattling—goes something like this: the international community pays the small South American nation not to drill for nearly a billion barrels of oil in a massive block of Yasuni National Park. While Ecuador receives hundreds of millions in an UN-backed fund, what does the international community […]
Undergrads in the Amazon: American students witness beauty and crisis in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador
Although most Americans have likely seen photos and videos of the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, they will probably never see it face-to-face. For many, the Amazon seems incredibly remote: it is a dim, mysterious place, a jungle surfeit in adventure and beauty—but not a place to take a family vacation or spend a honeymoon. […]
Foreign corporations devastating Papua New Guinea rainforests
A letter in Nature from seven top scientists warns that Papua New Guinea’s accessible forest will be lost or heavily logged in just ten to twenty years if swift action isn’t taken. A potent mix of poor governance, corruption, and corporate disregard is leading to the rapid loss of Papua New Guinea’s much-heralded rainforests, home […]
Jackpot: how international community could raise $141 billion for biodiversity
Leaders from around the world meeting in Nagoya, Japan for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to discuss solutions to stem the current mass extinction crisis may be in need of a little book: The Little Biodiversity Finance Book. While a recent report by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) found that degradation of […]
Humanity consuming the Earth: by 2030 we’ll need two planets
Too many people consuming too much is depleting the world’s natural resources faster than they are replenished, imperiling not only the world’s species but risking the well-being of human societies, according to a new massive study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), entitled the Living Planet Report. The report finds that humanity is currently consuming […]
Conserving nature with economics
While many factors come into consideration when the fate of forests are being determined, economics often play a key role in land use decisions. When the perceived value of forest land is higher as cattle pasture, cropland, or plantation, then trees fall. But what happens when economic assumptions underlying these decisions are wrong? Forests, including […]
Could industrial interests ruin payments for environmental services?
One of the biggest ideas in the conservation world over the past decade is Payments for Environmental Services, known as PES, whereby governments, corporations, or the public pays for the environmental services that benefit them (and to date have been free), i.e. carbon, biodiversity, freshwater, etc. For example, Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation […]
How best to balance economic growth and protection of the environment?
When people are hungry for an uncertain income, they will destroy everything. When people become poor due to a poor decision they were excluded from making, who should be responsible for that? Development is seen as the answer to poverty. However, many controversial developments have actually increased poverty, and while the investors in such schemes […]
Indonesia gets first $30M from Norway under $1B forest deal
Norway has agreed to transfer an initial $30 million to Indonesia under its $1 billion REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) partnership with the Southeast Asian country. The fund will go towards Phase I of the partnership, which include “the establishment of an Indonesian REDD+ agency, development of a comprehensive national REDD+ strategy, […]
Indonesian people-not international donors or orangutan conservationists-will determine the ultimate fate of Indonesia’s forests
With 18,000 islands spanning two major bigeographic realms (and a curious outlier in Sulawesi) across an area of nearly 2 million square kilometers, Indonesia is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries. It has the world’s third largest extent of tropical forests, has the planet’s richest coral reefs, and is home to more than 12 […]
Scientists sound warning on forest carbon payment scheme
Scientists convening in Bali expressed a range of concerns over a proposed mechanism for mitigating climate change through forest conservation, but some remained hopeful the idea could deliver long-term protection to forests, ease the transition to a low-carbon economy, and generate benefits to forest-dependent people. Presenting at the annual Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, […]
Membayar untuk Alam: Terapkan Harga atas ‘Pelayanan Ekosistem’
Sejak manusia masuk ke dunia, alam telah memberikan pada kita berbagai ragam yang luas pelayanan esensial dan ‘gratis’: beberapa di antaranya adalah produksi pangan, penyerbukan, kesehatan tanah, penyaringan air, dan penahanan karbon. Para ahli menamakan ini ‘pelayanan ekosistem’. Pelayanan seperti ini, meski vital untuk penghuni bumi, telah banyak sekali tidak dihargai di jaman industri, paling […]
Paying for nature: putting a price on ‘ecosystem services’
Ever since humans entered the stage, nature has been providing us with a wide-variety of essential and ‘free’ services: food production, pollination, soil health, water filtration, and carbon sequestration to name a few. Experts have come to call these ‘ecosystem services’. Such services, although vital for an inhabitable planet, have largely gone undervalued in the […]
Para ilmuwan memperingatkan bahwa Malaysia mengonversi hutan tropis menjadi perkebunan karet
Asosiasi Biologi dan Konservasi Tropis (ATBC) mengutuk peningkatan praktek mengonversi hutan tropis menjadi perkebunan karet di Malaysia, dengan alasan bahwa konversi tersebut mengancam keanekaragaman hayati Malaysia, spesies terancam punah, dan melepaskan emisi gas rumah kaca yang signifikan. Menurut resolusi resolution, perkebunan karet di Malaysia sudah berkembang hampir 30 kali lipat dalam tiga tahun dari 1.626 […]
Scientists warn that Malaysia is converting tropical forests to rubberwood plantations
The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) has condemned Malaysia’s booming practice of converting tropical forests into rubberwood plantations, arguing that the conversion threatens Malaysia’s biodiversity, endangered species, and releases significant greenhouse gas emissions. According to a resolution, rubberwood plantations in Malaysia have expanded nearly 30-fold in three years from 1,626 hectares to 44,148 […]
U.S. farms and forests report draws ire in Brazil; cutting down the Amazon does not mean lower food prices
Not surprisingly, a US report released last week which argued that saving forests abroad will help US agricultural producers by reducing international competition has raised hackles in tropical forest counties. The report, commissioned by Avoided Deforestation Partners, a US group pushing for including tropical forest conservation in US climate policy, and the National Farmers Union, […]
Rencana Indonesia untuk selamatkan hutan hujannya
Wawancara dengan Agus Purnomo dan Yani Saloh, Asisten Khusus Presiden Republik Indonesia untuk Perubahan Iklim. Akhir tahun lalu, Indonesia membuat berita di dunia dengan janji yang berani untuk mengurangi penggundulan hutan, yang menghabiskan hampir 28 juta hektar (108 mil persegi) hutan antara tahun 1990 dan 2005 dan merupakan sumber sekitar 80 persen dari emisi gas […]
Indonesia’s plan to save its rainforests
An interview with Agus Purnomo and Yani Saloh, Special Assistants to the President of the Republic of Indonesia for Climate Change. Late last year Indonesia made global headlines with a bold pledge to reduce deforestation, which claimed nearly 28 million hectares (108,000 square miles) of forest between 1990 and 2005 and is the source of […]
Korupsi bisa rusak REDD
Dengan empat milyar dolar Amerika Serikat yang dijanjikan minggu lalu untuk memulai Pengurangan Emisi dari Penggundulan Hutan dan Degradasi Hutan (REDD), laporan baru dari Global Witness memperingatkan bahwa dana tersebut hanya dapat sedikit membendung penggundulan hutan jika pemerintah dan akuntabilitas tidak ditingkatkan dan korupsi ditangani. Program REDD menyediakan dana bagi negara-negara tropis untuk menjaga agar […]
Wilayah dilindungi yang baru di Brazil berkontribusi atas kejatuhan utama tingkat penggundulan hutan
Wilayah-wilayah yang dilindingi di Amazon Brazil membuktikan tingginya efektifitasnya dalam mengurangi kehilangan hutan di hutan hujan terbesar di dunia, menurut laporan dari sebuah penelitian baru yang berdasar pada analisis tren penggundulan hutan di dan sekitar teritori pribumi, taman, kekuasaan militer, dan cagar alam dengan penggunaan yang berkesinambungan. Penelitian ini, dipublikasikan di edisi awal Proceedings of […]
Indonesia akan cabut perizinan konsesi minyak kelapa di bawah kesepakatan mengenai hutan
Indonesia akan mencabut perizinan hutan yang telah ada untuk menebang hutan alam di bawah kesepakatan milyaran dolar kesepakatan iklim dengan Norwegia yang ditandatangani minggu lalu, lapor Reuters. Agus Purnomo, kepala Sekretariat Dewan Perubahan Iklim Nasional Indonesia, mengatakan pada Sunanda Creagh dari Reuters bahwa sebagian milyar dolar yang dijanjikan Norwegia akan digunakan untuk mengkompensasi pengembang minyak […]
REDD threatens rights of 350 million local people
Last week the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program received a jump start with a four billion US dollar pledge from a number of industrialized nations. Under REDD tropical forest nation will be paid to keep forests standing, however the program—as it currently stands—has provoked concern over the rights of the some […]
As Amazon deforestation rates fall, fires increase
While rates of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon have been on the decline since 2004, the incidence of fire is increasing in the region, undermining some of the carbon emissions savings of reduced deforestation rates, report researchers writing in the journal Science. Fire is widely used in the Amazon as a means to manage […]
Corruption could undermine REDD
With four billion US dollars pledged last week to kick-start the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), a new report by Global Witness warns that the funds could do little to stem deforestation if governance and accountability are not improved and corruption tackled. The REDD program provides funds to tropical nations to keep […]
A total ban on primary forest logging needed to save the world, an interview with activist Glen Barry
Radical, controversial, ahead-of-his-time, brilliant, or extremist: call Dr. Glen Barry, the head of Ecological Internet, what you will, but there is no question that his environmental advocacy group has achieved major successes in the past years, even if many of these are below the radar of big conservation groups and mainstream media. “We tend to […]
New protected areas in Brazil contribute to major drop in Amazon deforestation rate
Protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon are proving highly effective in reducing forest loss in Earth’s largest rainforest, reports a new study based on analysis of deforestation trends in and around indigenous territories, parks, military holdings, and sustainable use reserves. The research, published in the early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, […]
Indonesia to revoke palm oil concession licenses under forest deal
Indonesia will revoke existing forestry licenses to cut down natural forests under the billion dollar deal climate deal signed with Norway last week, reports Reuters. Agus Purnomo, head of the secretariat of Indonesia’s National Climate Change Council, told Sunanda Creagh of Reuters that part of the billion dollars pledged by Norway would be used to […]
Apakah kita di sedang berada di tepian penyelamatan hutan hujan?
Hingga saat ini, menyelamatkan hutan hujan seperti sebuah misi yang mustahil. Namun saat ini dunia telah mulai menerima ide bahwa solusi yang ditawarkan untuk membantu menghadapi perubahan iklim dapat memberikan tawaran cara baru dengan memunculkan nilai hutan tanpa menebanginya. CATATAN: Lihat Bigg REDDuntuk membaca konsep dengan lebih ringkas. Jauh di dalam Amazon Brazil, anggota suku […]
Long-distance seed dispersal and hunting, an interview with Kimberly Holbrook
The fourth in an interview series with participants in the 5th Frugivore and Seed Dispersal International Symposium. Scientists are just beginning to uncover the complex relationship between healthy biodiverse tropical forests and seed dispersers—species that spread seeds from a parent tree to other parts of the forest including birds, rodents, primates, and even elephants. By […]
Taking back the rainforest: Indians in Colombia govern 100,000 square miles of territory
An interview with Martin von Hildebrand, founder at head of Gaia Amazonas. Indigenous groups in the Colombian Amazon have long suffered deprivations at the hands of outsiders. First came the diseases brought by the European Conquest, then came abuses under colonial rule. In modern times, some Amazonian communities were virtually enslaved by the debt-bondage system […]
Can markets protect nature?
An interview with Michael Jenkins, President and CEO of Forest Trends Over the past 30 years billions of dollars has been committed to global conservation efforts, yet forests continue to fall, largely a consequence of economic drivers, including surging global demand for food and fuel. With consumption expected to far outstrip population growth due to […]
World failing on every environmental issue: an op-ed for Earth Day
The biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis, the deforestation crisis: we are living in an age when environmental issues have moved from regional problems to global ones. A generation or two before ours and one might speak of saving the beauty of Northern California; conserving a single species—say the white rhino—from extinction; or preserving an ecological […]
Where do forest carbon markets go from here?
Will Forest Carbon Markets Thrive, or Get Lost in the Woods? For thousands of years, we have been planting and growing trees without difficulty. It’s simple, and forest carbon business strategy can be, too. In fact, it’s core to what I’m trying to teach the MBA/MS students in my course at the Erb Institute this […]
Skoll Foundation Awards $2.2 millon to avoided deforestation and the ecosystem services market
This week the Skoll Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship awarded its annual Awards for Social Entrepreneurship and three of the seven prizes went to individuals and organizations focused on tropical forests and ecosystem services, including Forest Trends, Imazon, and Telapak. Each award is worth $765,000, which amounts to over $2.2 million for this space. The awards […]
Depopulation may be harming the Amazon rainforest
Urbanization may be having unexpected impacts in the Amazon rainforest by leaving forest areas vulnerable to exploitation by outsiders, report researchers writing in Conservation Letters. Conducting field surveys during the course of 10,000-kilometers of travel along remote Amazon rivers, Luke Parry of Lancaster University found that a sharp decrease in rural habitation has not been […]
Masyarakat hutan hujan memiliki hak karbon untuk lahan yang ada
Sebuah suku hutan hujan yang berjuang untuk menyelamatkan wilayah mereka dari penebang memiliki hak perdagangan karbon pada lahan mereka, menurut opini legal yang dikeluarkan hari ini oleh Baker & McKenzie, salah satu firma hukum terbesar di dunia. Opini tersebut, yang mana ditugaskan oleh Forest Trends, sebuah kelompok konservasi hutan yang berbasis di Washington, D.C., bisa […]
Forest conservation in U.S. climate policy: an interview with Jeff Horowitz
The Copenhagen Accord signed in December is widely seen as a disappointment. The Accord set no binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions targets and did not even commitment to a legally binding treaty in the future. Serious work is needed to bring the process back on track. But some progress was made. Countries agreed on […]
Could special bonds fund the green revolution and stabilize the climate?
There is no question that governments around the world are moving slowly and sluggishly to combat climate change, especially when placed against the measures recommended by climate scientists. Only a handful of nations have actually cut overall greenhouse gas emissions, and the past couple decades have seen emissions rise rapidly worldwide as nations like India […]
Photos: park in Ecuador likely contains world’s highest biodiversity, but threatened by oil
In the midst of a seesaw political battle to save Yasuni National Park from oil developers, scientists have announced that this park in Ecuador houses more species than anywhere else in South America—and maybe the world. “Yasuní is at the center of a small zone where South America’s amphibians, birds, mammals, and vascular plants all […]
Congo basin rainforest countries
REDD, responsible logging could help preserve Congo forests, reduce poverty, says report Payments for ecosystem services and sustainable forest management may be key components in maintaining Central Africa’s rainforests as healthy and productive ecosystems, finds a comprehensive assessment of the region’s forests. The review, entitled State of the Forest 2008, was released Thursday at an […]
Forest carbon conservation projects top $100 million
New report documents billions of dollars in losses from Indonesia’s reforestation fund between 1989 and 2009. The market for carbon credits generated through forest conservation topped $100 million from 2007 through the first half of 2009, despite a global recession and plunging carbon prices in regulated markets, reports a new assessment by Ecosystem Marketplace. The […]
Guyana to increase oversight of gold mining under deal to save forests with Norway
As a part of a deal with Norway to preserve its rainforests, Guyana will step up oversight of its gold mining industry, which has been accused of causing significant environmental damage including deforestation and mercury and cyanide pollution. “The recent agreement with Norway, through which Guyana receives payments to avoided deforestation and degradation, now puts […]
REDD may miss up to 80 percent of land use change emissions
Organization recommends expanding REDD to cover all land use change emissions. The political definition of ‘forest’ used in REDD (Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) threatens to undermine the program’s objective to conserve ecosystems for their ability to sequester carbon, according to a new analysis by the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) Partnership […]
Obama on global warming and forest protection
President of the United States, Barack Obama, was in Oslo, Norway this morning accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, which he won in part for promising to bring the United States to the negotiating table on climate change—something he has recently done. In his speech Obama spoke briefly about why future peace depends on tackling climate […]
REDD+ could turn deforesters into forest protectors
Summary: REDD+ could create incentives for forest conservation But policy reform needed Policymakers need to consider broader drivers of deforestation Payments for conservation and sustainable management of forests could turn agents of forest destruction into forest protectors, according to a comprehensive analysis of national policy options to reduce deforestation released in Copenhagen by the Center […]
Changing drivers of deforestation provide new opportunities for conservation
- Tropical deforestation claimed roughly 13 million hectares of forest per year during the first half of this decade, about the same rate of loss as the 1990s.
- But while the overall numbers have remained relatively constant, they mask a transition of great significance: a shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation and geographic consolidation of where deforestation occurs.
- These changes have important implications for efforts to protect the world’s remaining tropical forests in that environmental lobby groups now have identifiable targets that may be more responsive to pressure on environmental concerns than tens of millions of impoverished rural farmers.
- In other words, activists have more leverage than ever to impact corporate behavior as it relates to deforestation.
Brazilian tribe owns carbon rights to Amazon rainforest land
A rainforest tribe fighting to save their territory from loggers owns the carbon-trading rights to their land, according to a legal opinion released today by Baker & McKenzie, one of the world’s largest law firms. The opinion, which was commissioned by Forest Trends, a Washington, D.C.-based forest conservation group, could boost the efforts of indigenous […]
REDD in Madagascar
Despite damage from ongoing illegal logging, Madagascar’s remaining forests are poised to benefit from the proposed REDD mechanism, a U.N.-backed scheme that would compensate tropical developing countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, reports a new paper that analyzes efforts to use carbon finance to protect the Indian Ocean island’s remaining forests. The research […]
Brazil could halt Amazon deforestation within a decade
Payments from U.S. cap-and-trade, a carbon tax, or a proposed climate change mitigation mechanism could help end Amazon deforestation in Brazil, reducing CO2 emissions 2-5%, by 2020. But Brazil’s window to act is only 2-3 years, say scientists. Funds generated under a U.S. cap-and-trade or a broader U.N.-supported scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from […]
Ethnographic maps built using cutting-edge technology may help Amazon tribes win forest carbon payments
A new handbook lays out the methodology for cultural mapping, providing indigenous groups with a powerful tool for defending their land and culture, while enabling them to benefit from some 21st century advancements. Cultural mapping may also facilitate indigenous efforts to win recognition and compensation under a proposed scheme to mitigate climate change through forest […]
Guyana expedition finds biodiversity trove in area slated for oil and gas development, an interview with Robert Pickles
Playful giant river otters, massive anacondas, unafraid tapirs, and the world’s largest spider recorded in Guyana’s lost world. An expedition deep into Guyana’s rainforest interior to find the endangered giant river otter—and collect their scat for genetic analysis—uncovered much more than even this endangered charismatic species. “Visiting the Rewa Head felt like we were walking […]
A fair deal for forest people: working to ensure that REDD forests bear fruit for local communities
As world leaders meet to thrash out the next incarnation of the Kyoto climate agreement, the world waits with baited breath to see how greenhouse gas emissions from forests might be included. Despite the high powered nature of these important global decisions, the success of REDD will ultimately be decided by humble forest dependent communities, […]
REDD may not be enough to save Sumatra’s endangered lowland rainforests
A prominent REDD project in Aceh, Indonesia probably won’t be enough to save Northern Sumatra’s endangered lowland rainforests from logging and conversion to oil plantations and agriculture, report researchers writing in Environmental Research Letters. The study highlights the contradiction between the Ulu Masen conservation project — which involves Flora and Fauna International, Bank of America, […]
Deforestation emissions should be shared between producer and consumer, argues study
Study focuses on beef and soybean production at the expense of the Amazon rainforest. Under the Kyoto Protocol the nation that produces carbon emission takes responsibility for them, but what about when the country is producing carbon-intensive goods for consumer demand beyond its borders? For example while China is now the world’s highest carbon emitter, […]
REDD may increase the cost of conservation of non-forest ecosystems
Policy-makers designing a climate change mitigation mechanism that will reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) aren’t doing enough to ensure that the scheme protects biodiversity outside carbon-dense ecosystems, argues an editorial published in Current Biology by a prominent group of scientists. The fear is that REDD, which would pay countries for protecting forest carbon […]
Ecological benefits of REDD boosted by inclusion of private landowners, potentially harmed by plantations
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation [REDD] programs that include landowners will conserve more habitat and ensure greater ecosystem services function than programs that focus solely on protected areas, report researchers from the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM), and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). REDD, […]
Countries that invest in conservation will see higher financial returns, argues report
A new report issued by the The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative makes a strong case for valuing the planet’s ecosystem services. The report calls for investments in “ecological infrastructure” to protect wildlands and the services they provide; market-based valuation of ecosystem services; reductions in environmentally harmful subsidies; recognition of the link between […]
Hunting across Southeast Asia weakens forests’ survival, An interview with Richard Corlett
Seventh in a series of interviews with participants at the 2009 Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference. A large flying fox eats a fruit ingesting its seeds. Flying over the tropical forests it eventually deposits the seeds at the base of another tree far from the first. One of these seeds takes root, […]
REDD in Colombia: using forests to finance conservation and communities in Colombia’s Choco, a former war zone
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), a climate change mechanism proposed by the U.N., has been widely lauded for its potential to simultaneously deliver a variety of benefits at multiple scales. But serious questions remain, especially in regard to local communities. Will they benefit from REDD? While much lip-service is paid to community involvement […]
Will Ecuador’s plan to raise money for not drilling oil in the Amazon succeed?
Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park is full of wealth: it is one of the richest places on earth in terms of biodiversity; it is home to the indigenous Waorani people, as well as several uncontacted tribes; and the park’s forest and soil provides a massive carbon sink. However, Yasuni National Park also sits on wealth of […]
“Money is not a problem,” palm oil CEO tells conservationists during speech defending the industry
- Earlier this month at a colloquium to implement wildlife corridors for orangutans in the Malaysian state of Sabah, Dr. Yusof Basiron, the CEO of Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), told conservationists and primate experts that the palm oil industry was ready to fund reforestation efforts in the corridors.
- “We can raise the money to replant [the corridors] and keep contributing as a subsidy in the replanting process of this corridor for connecting forests,” Basiron said in response to a question on how the palm oil industry will contribute.
- “Money is not a problem.”
New reserve created in Cambodia with REDD in mind
Cambodia’s Royal Government’s Council of Ministers has declared the creation of the Seima Protection Forest, a 1,100 square miles (2,849 square kilometers) park home to tigers, elephants, and endangered primates. The park’s creation was developed in part by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) “Carbon for Conservation” program, which intends to protect high-biodiversity ecosystems while raising […]
Logged forests support biodiversity after 15 years of rehabilitation, but not if turned into plantations
With the world facing global warming and a biodiversity crisis, a new study in Conservation Biology shows that within 15 years logged forests—considered by many to be ‘degraded’—can be managed in order to successfully fight both climate change and extinction. Studying regenerating forests in northeast Borneo, Dr. David Edwards from the University of Leeds, surveyed […]
Business and conservation groups team up to conserve and better manage US’s southern forests
A new project entitled Carbon Canopy brings together multiple stakeholders—from big business to conservation organizations to private landowners—in order to protect and better manage the United State’s southern forests. The program intends to employ the emerging US forest carbon market to pay private forest owners for conservation and restoration efforts while making certain that all […]
Indonesia: emissions to rise 50% by 2030, 3rd largest GHG emitter
A report released by the Indonesian government shows the country is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter, largely as a result of the destruction of rainforests and carbon-dense peatlands. Indonesia accounts for 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. The ‘National Council on Climate Change’ report reveals that degradation and destruction of peatlands (45 […]
Prince Charles making progress in effort to save rainforests, says leading British environmentalist
An interview with Tony Juniper, environmentalist, author, and special adviser to the Prince’s Rainforest Project Prince Charles of Great Britain has emerged as one of the world’s highest-profile promoters of a scheme that could finally put an end to destruction of tropical rainforests. The Prince’s Rainforest Project, launched in 2007, is promoting awareness of the […]
Social causes of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest
Understanding the web of social groups involved in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is key to containing forest loss, argues a leading Amazon researcher writing in the journal Ecology and Society. Philip Fearnside of the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) reviews nine actors that have had significant roles in deforestation and reports […]
Discovering nature’s wonder in order to save it, an interview with Jaboury Ghazoul
First in a series of interviews with participants at the 2009 Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference. Sometimes we lose sight of the forest by staring at the trees. When this happens we need something jarring and eloquent to pull us back to view the big picture again. This is what tropical ecologist […]
Activists target Brazil’s largest driver of deforestation: cattle ranching
An interview with Roberto Smeraldi, founder and director of Amigos da Terra – Amazônia Brasileira. One of the loudest voices calling for reduction of forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon is Amigos da Terra – Amazônia Brasileira. Independent from Friends of the Earth International, an activist network, since 2008, Brazil-based Amigos da Terra – Amazônia […]
Investing in conservation could save global economy trillions of dollars annually
By investing billions in conserving natural areas now, governments could save trillions every year in ecosystem services, such as natural carbon sinks to fight climate change, according to a European report The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). As reported by Reuters, a one time investment of 45 billion dollars in protected areas the global […]
Mining and biodiversity offsets in Madagascar: Conservation or ‘Conservation Opportunities?’
Ecological restoration substantially boosts biodiversity and ecosystem services
A new analysis reports that ecological restoration generally deliver benefits for both conserving biodiversity and supporting human livelihoods, but does not completely reverse degradation caused by humans. The research, published in Science, examined 89 studies and found that ecological restoration increased provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services by 44 percent and 25 percent respectively. Values […]
Brazilian soy industry extends moratorium on Amazon deforestation
The Brazilian soy industry has agreed to extend a moratorium on soy production in newly deforested areas in the Amazon rainforest, reports Greenpeace. The moratorium has been in place since 2006. Carlos Minc, Brazil’s environmental minister, announced the extension during a press conference in Brasilia. “Soya is no longer a significant force in the destruction […]
Are we on the brink of saving rainforests?
Until now saving rainforests seemed like an impossible mission. But the world is now warming to the idea that a proposed solution to help address climate change could offer a new way to unlock the value of forest without cutting it down. NOTE: See Bigg REDD for a condensed take on this concept. Deep in […]
G8 leaders declare support for REDD forest conservation initiative
A declaration issued by political leaders meeting at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, included a strong statement on the need to include forest conservation in a future climate agreement. Deforestation accounts for nearly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, a larger source of emissions than all the world’s cars, trucks, ships, and airplanes […]
A New Idea to Save Tropical Forests Takes Flight
This is the first in a series of tropical forest policy commentaries John-O Niles will be writing for Mongabay.com leading up to the December U.N. climate meeting in Copenhagen. John-O is the Director of the Tropical Forest Group. In late 1991, I had just finished my undergraduate degree in forest economics at the University of […]
Cambodia signs REDD agreement
Terra Global Capital, a San Francisco-based firm seeking to capitalize on emerging markets for ecosystem services, has signed an avoided deforestation deal with the government of Cambodia. The project, which is currently undergoing third party validation, expects to reduce emissions from deforestation by 8.5 million tons of carbon dioxide over 30 years. Terra Global Capital […]
Brazil to pay farmers $50/month to plant trees in the Amazon
Brazil will pay small farmers to plant trees in deforested parts of the Amazon under a plan unveiled Friday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Green Arch initiative (Arco Verde) will pay farmers up to $51 per month for reforestation of degraded lands in 43 Amazon municipalities where deforestation is an ongoing problem. […]
Amazon deforestation doesn’t make communities richer, better educated, or healthier
A new study finds Amazon deforestation fails to sustain long-term economic growth for rural populations. The findings come as development interests in Brazil push for government support to bolster infrastructure projects and agricultural expansion in the world’s largest rainforest. Deforestation generates short-term benefits but fails to increase affluence and quality of life in the long-run, […]
Brazil’s plan to save the Amazon rainforest
Brazil has its own designs for REDD Accounting for roughly half of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2005, Brazil is the most important supply-side player when it comes to developing a climate framework that includes reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). But Brazil’s position on REDD contrasts with proposals put forth by other […]
Asia’s conversion of forests for industrial rubber plantations hurts the environment
Policies promoting industrial rubber plantations over traditional swidden, or slash-and-burn, agriculture across Southeast Asia may carry significant environmental consequences, including loss of biodiversity, reduction of carbon stocks, pollution and degradation of local water supplies, report researchers writing in Science. Conducting field work in the Xishuangbanna prefecture of China’s Yunnan province and assessing broader regional trends, […]
Kenya signs its first REDD deal to conserve forests
Kenya has signed its first carbon deal to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). Yesterday San Francisco-based Wildlife Works Carbon and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) announced a plan to protect the 80,000-acre Rukinga forest reserve in southeastern Kenya. The project will be funded by sales of carbon credits in the voluntary carbon market. The […]
World leaders meet to discuss future of rainforests
World leaders met Wednesday to discuss the role rainforests can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The meeting was hosted by Prince Charles, whose Rainforests Project advocates rainforest conservation as a way to simultaneously fight climate change, maintain key ecological services, support rural communities, and preserve biodiversity. The Prince of Wales is pushing for a […]
Brazil: ‘Soy King’, Environment Minister strike deal on Amazon deforestation
Meeting at the Katoomba payments-for-ecosystem-services conference in Cuiaba, Brazil, Carlos Minc, Brazil’s Environment Minister, and Blairo Maggi, Governor of the State of Mato Grosso and the world’s largest individual soy grower, put aside their ideological differences and agreed to grant a temporary reprieve for ranchers and farmers in the Amazonian state, allowing them up to […]
Economic crisis hits conservation but may offer opportunities, says TNC president
An interview with Mark Tercek, president and CEO of the Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest conservation groups.
Payments for eco services could save the Amazon
Wildlife banking gets a marketplace
Wildlife banking gets a marketplace Wildlife banking gets a marketplace mongabay.com December 9, 2008
Prince Charles says hedge funds could save rainforests
Prince Charles renewed his call to protect rainforests for the services they provide humanity. Speaking Wednesday at a black-tie dinner in London, Charles compared the need to protect forests to fighting a war. "I often use the analogy of war because I fear we are engaged in a battle of survival. We must mobilize ourselves, […]
Biofuels 200 times more expensive than forest conservation for global warming mitigation
Biofuels up to 200 times more expensive than forest conservation for global warming mitigation Biofuels 200 times more expensive than forest conservation for global warming mitigation mongabay.com August 27, 2008 The British government should end subsidies for biofuels and instead use the funds to slow destruction of rainforests and tropical peatlands argues a new report […]
STRI goes carbon neutral as Panama indigenous community to see carbon payments from forest conservation
STRI goes carbon neutral as Panama indigenous community to see carbon payments from forest conservation Indigenous community in Panama to see carbon payments from forest conservation mongabay.com August 21, 2008 The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Panama-based branch of the Smithsonian Institution, will offset its carbon dioxide emissions by working with an indigenous community […]
Markets could save rainforests: an interview with Andrew Mitchell
Markets may save rainforests An interview with Dr. Andrew Mitchell of the Global Canopy Program: Markets could save rainforests Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com August 18, 2008 Markets may soon value rainforests as living entities rather than for just the commodities produced when they are cut down, said a tropical forest researcher speaking in June at […]
Investors seek profit from conserving rainforest biodiversity
Investors seek profit from protecting rainforest biodiversity Private equity seek profit from rainforest wildlife conservation Rhett Butler, mongabay.com August 13, 2008 Scheme would generate investment returns while restoring rainforest and protecting wildlife An investment firm has launched the first tropical biodiversity credits scheme. New Forests, a Sydney, Australia-based company, has established the Malua Wildlife Habitat […]
“Turtle carbon” could help protect rainforests and save endangered sea turtles
“Turtle carbon” could help protect rainforests and save endangered sea turtles “Turtle carbon” could help protect rainforests and save endangered sea turtles Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com August 12, 2008 Using carbon credits to promote rainforest conservation could help protect endangered sea turtles in some parts of the world, argues a carbon finance expert. Gabriel Thoumi, […]
7 steps to solve the global biodiversity crisis
7 steps to solve the global biodiversity crisis 7 steps to solve the global biodiversity crisis mongabay.com August 11, 2008 Prominent Stanford scientists propose seven measures to end the current human-driven mass extinction event. Many biologists believe Earth is entering a sixth mass extinction event, one that has is the direct of human activities, including […]
Dell becomes carbon neutral by saving endangered lemurs
Dell becomes carbon neutral by saving endangered lemurs Dell becomes carbon neutral by saving endangered lemurs Rhett Butler, mongabay.com August 6, 2008 Dell, the world’s largest computer maker, announced it has become the first major technology company to achieve carbon neutrality. The Texas-based firm reached its goal through “an aggressive global energy-efficiency campaign and increasing […]
Private equity firm to sell biodiversity offsets from rainforest conservation
Private equity firm to sell biodiversity credits from rainforest conservation Private equity firm to sell biodiversity credits from rainforest conservation Rhett Butler, mongabay.com August 6, 2008 Scheme would generate investment returns while restoring rainforest and protecting wildlife An investment firm has launched the first tropical biodiversity credits scheme. New Forests, an Australia-based company, has established […]
Shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation may help conservation
Shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation may help conservation Shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation may help conservation mongabay.com August 6, 2008 A shift from poverty-driven deforestation to industry-driven deforestation in the tropics may offer new opportunities for forest conservation, argues a new paper published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Citing research […]
Corporations become prime driver of deforestation, providing clear target for environmentalists
The major drivers of tropical deforestation have changed in recent decades. According to a forthcoming article, deforestation has shifted from poverty-driven subsistence farming to major corporations razing forests for large-scale projects in mining, logging, oil and gas development, and agriculture. While this change makes many scientists and conservationists uneasy, it may allow for more effective […]
Tropical biodiversity on “a trajectory toward disaster”
Tropical biodiversity on “a trajectory toward disaster” Tropical biodiversity on “a trajectory toward disaster” mongabay.com June 26, 2008 Despite recent debate over the extent of regenerating secondary forest cover, the effectiveness of protected areas and tropical extinctions protections, global biodiversity remains under great threat, warn scientists writing in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the […]
Guiana Shield forests help preserve biodiversity and climate
The Guiana Shield region of South America could play a significant role in efforts to fight global warming as part of a broader strategy to protect the world’s biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversty wilderness areas, said a leading conservationist speaking in Paramaribo, Suriname at a gathering of tropical biologists. In an address to the annual […]
Amazon beef producer creates eco-certified meat product with help of scientists
Amazon beef producer creates eco-certified meat product with help of scientists Amazon beef producer creates eco-certified meat product with help of scientists mongabay.com June 8, 2008 Independencia Alimentos SA, Brazil’s fifth-largest beef producer, will create an “eco-certified”, branded beef product from the Amazon’s Xingu region. Certification will be based on criteria established by Aliança da […]
Forest carbon credits could guide development in Congo
Forest carbon credits could guide development in Congo Forest carbon credits could help development in Congo: Interview with Nadine Laporte, remote sensing expert Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com May 28, 2008 An initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by offering carbon credits to countries that reduce deforestation may be one of the best mechanisms for promoting […]
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