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Biodiversity co-benefits of policies to reduce forest-carbon emissions

Nature Climate Change volume 2, pages 497–503 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Climate change and biodiversity loss are leading environmental crises that converge most critically in tropical forests. Policies for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation are often portrayed as win–win solutions for forest-based climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. However, the win–win narrative has obscured necessary trade-offs and a range of alternative policy approaches, insulating policymakers from difficult, potentially unpopular decisions. We provide a typology that characterizes the five underlying policy approaches for linking forest-based climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation and their related trade-offs. Such clarification will enable policymakers and stakeholders to better articulate their positions in the protracted and controversial biodiversity co-benefits debate that is at the centre of contemporary conservation efforts.

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Figure 1: Conceptualization of the relationships between forest-based carbon and tropical biodiversity through REDD+.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117543, Singapore

    Jacob Phelps & Edward L. Webb

  2. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK

    William M. Adams

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Correspondence to Jacob Phelps or Edward L. Webb.

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Phelps, J., Webb, E. & Adams, W. Biodiversity co-benefits of policies to reduce forest-carbon emissions. Nature Clim Change 2, 497–503 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1462

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