Climate Action 2010-2011

Redd, Sustainable Forest Management and Agriculture
Increased average temperatures and milder winters
in temperate and boreal zones will likely increase the
range of forest pests such as the pine bark beetle that has
decimated large areas of Canada’s spruce forests. Forests
are also vulnerable to the extreme weather events that
are predicted to increase in frequency and severity with
climate change. For example, in 2007, Hurricane Felix
flattened swaths of tropical forest in Nicaragua.
Tree species with limited distributions are particularly
ill-equipped to adapt to a rapidly changing climate. The
pace of global warming is likely to outstrip the ability
of tree species to migrate to newly-created habitats
at different latitudes and altitudes as climate change
advances. Perhaps most alarming is the possibility of
large-scale conversions of ecosystems that could be
induced by global warming exacerbated by human activity.
Some models suggest that the humid forests of the
Amazon basin could be gradually converted to savannah
grasslands through repeated cycles of drying and burning.
For all of these reasons, forests need to be included in
national adaptation strategies, both as a sector that can help
other sectors adapt, as well as a sector in need of adaptation
assistance in its own right. As a general principle, any
measures that preserve the integrity of forest ecosystems
will improve their ability to adapt to climate change.
Maintenance of genetic diversity – both within and
between species – will also serve to increase the options
for adaptation. Specific forest management interventions
can include use of reduced impact logging techniques,
fire prevention, and silvicultural practices that support
conservation of the genetic diversity of forest species.
Forest management: not just a
question of carbon
The newly appreciated role of forests in the mitigation
of climate change has generated a new constellation of
funding and political attention at national and global
levels. Initiatives under the rubric of Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing
countries (REDD+) are now dominating global discussions
of forest management. The overall impact of such initiatives
on the conservation of forest biodiversity is likely to be
positive in that maintaining forests as forests serves both
climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation
objectives. However, the extent of those co-benefits, and the
management of some associated risks, will depend on the
design specifics of the REDD+ interventions.
One risk is that managing forests for carbon alone will
simply displace deforestation and degradation pressures to
other forest areas that might be relatively carbon-poor but
also relatively species-rich. Efforts to control such ‘leakage’ at
national and international levels are thus a critical component
of REDD+ strategies. Another risk is that, depending
on how forests are defined, biodiverse natural forests or
other ecosystems such as savannahs could be replaced with
monoculture plantations. REDD+ interventions could also
result in impoverishment of local incomes if local people’s
access to forest resources is restricted and rights to share
in REDD+ benefits not respected. Accordingly, REDD+
strategies must be accompanied by the rigorous enforcement
of social and environmental safeguards.
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Biodiversity is the essence of the many benefits
provided by forests. The continued supply of products –
from fuelwood to timber to bushmeat – and sustained
provision of the less-appreciated ecosystem services, such
as carbon sequestration, pollination and hydrological
regulation, depend on the complex web of species that
constitute a forest. Forests are threatened by deforestation
and degradation, defaunation, and climate change.
Properly designed REDD+ initiatives can ensure that
forests serve both mitigation and adaptation objectives,
conserve biodiversity and its multiple benefits by
providing incentives to maintain forests as forests.
Frances Seymour is Director-General of CIFOR, an
international organisation with headquarters in Bogor,
Indonesia. At CIFOR, she has led the formulation and
initial implementation of a new strategy for the organisation
focused on six priority research domains. She is a co-author
of the CIFOR report ‘Do Trees Grow on Money?’ and
contributor to ‘Moving Ahead with REDD and Realizing
REDD+’. Prior to CIFOR, Ms. Seymour founded and
directed the Institutions and Governance Program at the
World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, DC.
Robert Nasi is the Director of the Forest and Environment
program at CIFOR. He has been working in the fields of
tropical forest ecology and management for over 30 years and
has published more than 150 scientific pieces on the subject.
Terry Sunderland is a Senior Scientist with CIFOR’s
Forests and Livelihoods programme, and leads the
research domain ‘Managing trade-offs between
conservation and development at the landscape scale’.
Prior to joining CIFOR, Terry was based in Central
Africa for many years. Terry holds a Ph.D. from
University College London.
CIFOR is a nonprofit, global facility dedicated to advancing
human wellbeing, environmental conservation and equity.
We conduct research that enables more informed and
equitable decision making about the use and management of
forests in less-developed countries. Our research and expert
analysis help policy makers and practitioners shape effective
policy, improve the management of tropical forests and
address the needs and perspectives of people who depend on
forests for their livelihoods. Our multidisciplinary approach
considers the underlying drivers of deforestation and
degradation which often lie outside the forestry sector: forces
such as agriculture, infrastructure development, trade and
investment policies and law enforcement.
Kristie Maiden, Executive Officer
Center for International Forestry Research
Jalan CIFOR, Bogor, Barat 16115
Indonesia
Tel: +62 8622 6222
Email: k.maiden@cgiar.org
Website: www.cifor.cgiar.org
www.climateactionprogramme.org