It might seem counterintuitive to suggest timber harvesting when the goal is to restore forests, but that gives landholders the economic incentive to protect and manage forests over time.
We argue for an orderly transition from ‘timber mining’ to managed forestry in the tropics. Here’s a five-step plan to improve forest fates, with benefits for the climate, biodiversity and people.
Hevea brasiliensis is grown in the world’s most biodiverse areas.
dangdumrong/Shutterstock
Tropical forests are one of humanity’s best hopes for slowing climate change.
Carbon markets can protect forests but increasing the economic value of these lands can also create incentives for land-grabbing.
(Boudewijn Huysmans/Unsplash)
Many see carbon markets as key to channelling billions of dollars into reducing carbon emissions and protecting forests, but they also put the well-being of communities at risk.
Nicolas Dubos, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
While species are and will be affected everywhere by climate change, those already living in a warm climate will reach their tolerance threshold faster.
A 32-year-old forest on former pastureland in northeastern Costa Rica.
Robin Chazdon
As governments and corporations pledge to help the planet by planting trillions of trees, a new study spotlights an effective, low-cost alternative: letting tropical forests regrow naturally.
Logs destined for export from the Amazon estuary in Para, Brazil.
Jacques Jangoux/Alamy Stock Photo
More than 100 world leaders have pledged to end the destruction of forests by 2030 as a way to slow climate change. That will require changing how the world produces four widely used commodities.
Brazil, home to the Amazon rainforest and a notable absence in previous deforestation agreements, has signed this time.
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