REDD and PINC: A new policy framework to fund tropical forests as global 'eco-utilities'

This study uses Amazonian forests as a case study

Abstract

Tropical forests are ‘eco-utilities’ providing critical ecosystem services that underpin food, energy, water and climate security at local to global scales. Currently, these services are unrecognised and unrewarded in international policy and financial frameworks, causing forests to be worth more dead than alive. Much attention is currently focused on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) and A/R (Afforestation and Reforestation) as mitigation options. In this article we propose an additional mechanism – PINC (Proactive Investment in Natural Capital) – that recognises and rewards the value of ecosystem services provided by standing tropical forests, especially from a climate change adaptation perspective.

Using Amazonian forests as a case study we show that PINC could improve the wellbeing of rural and forest-dependent populations, enabling them to cope with the impacts associated with climate change and deforestation

This research was supported by the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme

Citation

Trivedi, M.R., Mitchell, A.W., Mardas, N., Parker, C., Watson, J.E., Nobre, A.D., REDD and PINC: A new policy framework to fund tropical forests as global ‘eco-utilities’, IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol.8, pp.012005, Institute of Physics: Open Access Journals, 2009

REDD and PINC: A new policy framework to fund tropical forests as global ‘eco-utilities

Published 1 January 2009