UCS Publications Regarding Tropical Forests
Reducing Emissions from Tropical Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries plus related pro-forest activities (REDD+)
Tropical deforestation is a major cause of climate change, as greenhouse gases emitted via deforestation represent about 15 percent of the world's global warming pollution—more than the total emissions of every car, truck, plane, ship, and train on earth. We are working to address this problem through international agreements and U.S. legislation that reward tropical countries for slowing deforestation and forest degradation and therefore reducing their global warming pollution. This set of policies is referred to as REDD+, an acronym that stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus related pro-forest activities.
Reports
The Plus Side: Promoting Sustainable Carbon Sequestration in Tropical Forests (2010): REDD policies have been expanded into REDD+, which goes beyond just reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation by including conserving existing tropical forests, restoring degraded forests, seeding new forests, and managing them sustainably. This report explains how a variety of forestry practices can be used to achieve REDD+ policies while meeting strict standards for protecting the environment and communities. If applied effectively, the full range of REDD+ activities can turn forests from a source of global warming emissions into a sink.
Out of the Woods: A Realistic Role for Tropical Forests in Curbing Global Warming (2008): REDD is an option that averts global warming's worst consequences and generates enormous co-benefits for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. A review of the literature, combined with analyses of the data, shows that REDD could substantially decrease the severity of climate change.
Fact sheets
Brazil's Success in Reducing Deforestation (2011): Detailed analyses of publicly available satellite photos show that Brazil has reduced deforestation in the Amazon enough over the past five years to lower heat-trapping emissions more than any other country on Earth.This success demonstrates the enormous potential of REDD+.
Tropical Deforestation and Global Warming: A Solution (Updated in 2011):This fact sheet explains how tropical deforestation contributes to global warming, and how actions to protect tropical forests can reduce global warming while providing many additional benefits.
Deforestation Today: It's Just Business (2010): For many years, tropical deforestation was attributed largely to growing numbers of subsistence farmers moving into forests and cutting down trees to plant food crops such as corn, beans, and cassava. This fact sheet explains information from several recent scientific studies, which show that large commercial agricultural and timber enterprises— not subsistence farmers—are the principal agents of tropical deforestation.
Protecting Trees, Protecting Our Climate: Ten Reasons to Invest in Reducing Tropical Deforestation (2009): To succesffuly and cost-effectively address global warming, the United States must get serious about stopping tropical deforestation outside of our borders. Here are just ten reasons why investing in forest protection is in the nation's best interest.
Estimating the Cost and Potential of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (2008): REDD has gained momentum in international climate negotiations as a cost-effective way to reduce heat-trapping emissions. Recent data on costs show that relatively modest funding can greatly reduce deforestation's contribution to dangerous climate change. (Complete version with endnotes.)
Filling the REDD Basket: Complementary Financing Approaches (2008): Financing approaches for REDD have become an issue of active debate, but there is now a growing consensus on the "Basket of Approaches" idea, which would combine different sources of funding for different aspects of REDD in different timeperiods.
Papers
Points of Reference: Finding Common Ground among Reference Level Approaches to Move REDD+ Forward: Policies for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation combined with related pro-forest activities (REDD+) can play a major role in combating climate change. The technical aspects of REDD+ still need to be worked out, including the contentious issue of setting deforestation reference levels (i.e., the quantities of emissions below which countries receive REDD+ credits). While many reference level approaches are based on past emissions (i.e., the national historical baseline), some approaches also include “expected” emissions either by (a) comparing a country’s emissions to a global average or (b) calculating the amount of carbon stock present in a given country.
Money for Nothing? Principles and Rules for REDD and their Implications for Protected Areas (2009): This paper explains why, given the likely rules governing REDD and the role of carbon markets in them, the benefits to protected areas are not at all certain. They may not come directly to the protected areas and those who own, develop or maintain them, but rather indirectly, through national governments. Nonetheless, the potential is there, and with a good understanding of some of the basic rules likely to emerge for REDD, protected areas can benefit substantially.This paper was prepared for the workshop: “Connecting Protected Areas and Indigenous Lands to REDD Frameworks” at Stanford University.
Development Without Deforestation: A New Response to Global Warming (2008): The twenty-first century can be, for the first time in human history, the epoch of development without deforestation. This article was written for WorldView, the National Peace Corps Association magazine.
Fact sheets related to past policy debates and negotiations
Tropical Forests after Copenhagen: Climate Policy in 2010 and Beyond (2010): At the December 2009 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen, the nearly 200 participating countries made important progress on the set of policies referred to as "REDD+". This fact sheet explains the key milestones negotiators made on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conserving forest carbon, and increasing carbon sequestration by forests.
Deforestation Reduction and Climate Adaptation in U.S. Climate Legislation (2009): The American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454) was passed by the U.S. House of Representative in June of 2009. This fact sheet explains the bill's provisions for tropical forest protection and international adaptation.
Progress on Climate and REDD in the United States Congress (2008): Promising proposals of climate legislation in the United States include significant support for REDD. These bills show that the U.S. Congress is not only serious about reducing heat-trapping emissions, but is also discussing creative ways to support REDD.
