Institute Activities Related to International Forest Carbon
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U.S. Government Funding for Forests in Developing Countries and the New REDD+ Landscape
read memo > "International Forest Carbon and Climate Policy" Series
International Forest Carbon and the Climate Change Challenge: Issues and Options
A multi-author collaborative report highlighting the most promising opportunities and pressing challenges associated with the effort to bring deforestation and forest degradation into climate policy by Lydia Olander, William Boyd, Kathleen Lawlor, Erin Myers Madeira, and John O Niles.
Full report >
Executive Summary >
Policy briefs:
• The Crucial Role of Forests in Combating Climate Change
• International Forest Carbon in Current Policy Proposals
• Responding to Concerns and Questions
• Fundamentals for an International Forest Climate Policy
• Addressing the Causes of Tropical Deforestation
• Experience on the Ground, In the Forests
Including International Forest Carbon Incentives in Climate Policy: Understanding the Economics
A report discussing the economic dimensions of international forest carbon payments.
Full report >
Executive Summary >
Policy Impacts on Deforestation: Lessons from Past Experiences to Inform New Initiatives
A policy brief exploring what has worked in reducing forest loss and degradation and what has not, and the reasons for these different outcomes.
Policy brief >
(Full report coming soon)
Sustaining Livelihoods While Reducing Emissions From Deforestation
Options for Policymakers
read working paper >Briefing on Tropical Forests and Climate Policy "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation through US and International Climate Policy"
hosted by Senator Kerry, Senator Lugar, and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations June 11, 2009.
Presentation (as a pdf) >
Event - Bonn Climate Change Talks June 2009 – Side Event
International REDD linkages: comparing US legislation and UNFCCC deliberations
Key UNFCCC REDD questions remain. Will REDD credits be fungible and if so when? Will there be a phased approach? Will REDD be a component of NAMAs? In the US, climate legislation also embraces international forest carbon. Experts from Tropical Forest Group & Duke University’s Nicholas Institute explore linkages, synergies and conflicts.
Presentation (as a pdf) >- Event: March 6-8, 2009
Forest Carbon Finance Summit 2009: Making Forest Carbon Markets Work - Event: Saturday, December 6, 2008
US Government Perspectives on Climate Change and Forests
Side Event at Forest Day 2 in Poznan Poland 
“Leakage
from an Avoided Deforestation Compensation Policy: Concepts,
Empirical Evidence, and Corrective Policy Options” -
June 2008
A new working paper by the Nicholas Institute’s Brian Murray offers ideas on how policies now being developed to pay tropical forest countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) can account for and prevent emissions “leakage.”
read working paper >- “A Core Participation Requirement for Creation of a REDD market” - May 2008
“A
New Opportunity to Help Mitigate Climate Change, Save Forests,
and Reach Development Goals” - August 2007
A proposal to include avoided emissions from deforestation in the next phase of the global climate agreements has been moving forward rapidly. This paper provides an overview of the state of this proposal, what its implementation might look like and what this could mean for climate, forests, and nations that might participate. It also provides an discussion of the undecided issues in the proposal and recommendations for next steps to move thing forward.
learn more >
“Data
and Methods to Estimate National Historical Deforestation
Baselines in Support of UNFCCC REDD” - July 2007
Global climate policy initiatives are now being proposed to compensate tropical forest nations for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). This working paper by a panel of experts from the Nicholas Institute, Conservational International and the University of Wisconsin-Madison reviews existing data and methods that could be used to measure historical deforestation and degradation baselines, including FAO national statistics and various remote-sensing sources, and thus aid in the creation of a credible benchmark against which future emissions reductions can be measured.
read working paper >
final published version available here >- “Establishing Credible Baselines for Quantifying Avoided Carbon Emissions from Reduced Deforestation and Forest Degradation” - July 2007
Global climate policy initiatives are now being proposed to compensate tropical forest nations for reducing the emissions of carbon from deforestation and forest degradation. This effort has the potential to include developing countries more actively in international greenhouse gas mitigation and to address a substantial share of the world’s emissions which come from deforestation. A baseline is an essential precursor to a viable and robust international compensation scheme for reduced emissions from degradation and deforestation (REDD). Baselines provide a benchmark against which emissions reduction can be calculated.
read working paper >
