Large, commercial agriculture and timber enterprises are the principal agents of tropical deforestation, with four key commodities—soy, beef, palm oil, and pulp and paper—driving up to 50 percent of tropical deforestation. These drivers of deforestation differ by region. Soy and cattle are key in South America, while timber, paper, and palm oil are more important in Southeast Asia.
Forest loss in developing countries represents a significant contribution to global emissions along with significant climate change mitigation potential. How Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries; and the Role of Conservation, Sustainable Management of Forests, and Enhancement of Forest Carbon Stocks (REDD+) will be incentivized in a future climate agreement is still being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The objective of this paper is to evaluate the potential of a range of market and non-market policy options available to developing countries willing to contribute to a global climate chnage solution by reducing emissions from deforestaion and forest degradation, forest conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) and to deliver additional co-benefits. The covered policy options are domestic market-based instruments (MBIs), direct regulation of land clearing, payments for results, and environmental impact assessment.
This paper provides an overview of relevant Conference of Parties (COP) decisions and the current status of negotiations on finance issues related to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degregation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+).
On Sept 15, NRCS announced that Terra was one of 47 organizations to win a 2014 Conservation Innovation Grant. Their winning project lowers the barriers for growers to adopt of low emission rice practices by reducing the data collection and verification costs of creating offsets. One of three private sector entities to win one of this year's CIG awards, Terra's solution was granted one of the largest CIG awards of 2014.
