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Adopt a carbon tax to protect tropical forests

A levy on fossil fuels can support and restore ecosystems that help to stem climate change.
  1. Edward B. Barbier

    1. Edward B. Barbier is a university distinguished professor in the Department of Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.

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  2. Ricardo Lozano

    1. Ricardo Lozano is Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Colombia.

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  3. Carlos Manuel Rodríguez

    1. Carlos Manuel Rodríguez is Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica.

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  4. Sebastian Troëng

    1. Sebastian Troëng is executive vice-president of Conservation International in Arlington, Virginia, USA.

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A man rides a horse through rainforest in the Talamanca mountains

A tropical forest in the Bribri Indigenous region of Costa Rica. Credit: Ivan Kashinsky/Panos

Deforestation must be stopped in tropical countries to tackle the existential threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. The vast majority of Earth’s species are in the tropics; forests there have taken in much of the carbon added to the atmosphere by human activities. Safeguarding these forests is central to slashing greenhouse-gas emissions and meeting the internationally agreed United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)1.

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Nature 578, 213-216 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00324-w

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Supplementary Information

  1. Analysis of a tropical carbon tax

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