This edited collection assesses governance in forestry programmes and projects, including REDD+ governance. It examines political representation, participation and decentralisation in forest governance, providing insight as to how forest governance arrangements can be responsive to the socio-economic interests of local people and communities who live adjacent to and depend on forests. Global Forest Governance and Climate Change argues that inclusive complementary representation of local communities is required for strong participatory processes and democratic decentralisation of forest governance. Responsiveness to local people’s socio-economic interests in forestry initiatives require paying attention to not just the hosting of participatory meetings and activities, but also to the full cast of appointed, self-authorized, and elected representative agents that stand, speak, and act for local people. This book will be of interest to students and academics across the fields of climate change governance, forestry, development studies, and political economy. It will also be a useful resource for policy makers and practitioners responsible for forestry and climate change initiatives.

The critical role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation is now widely recognized. Forests contribute significantly to climate change mitigation through their carbon sink and carbon storage functions. They play an essential role in reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing adaptation of people and ecosystems to climate change and climate variability, the negative impacts of which are becoming increasingly evident in many parts of the world. In many countries climate change issues have not been fully addressed in national forest policies, forestry mitigation and adaptation needs at national level have not been thoroughly considered in national climate change strategies, and cross-sectoral dimensions of climate change impacts and response measures have not been fully appreciated. This publication seeks to provide a practical approach to the process of integrating climate change into national forest programmes. The aim is to assist senior officials in government administrations and the representatives of other stakeholders, including civil society organizations and the private sector, prepare the forest sector for the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change. This document complements a set of guidelines prepared by FAO in 2013 to support forest managers incorporate climate change considerations into forest management plans and practices.

This work provides an important, broad and legal critique and assessment of transnational trends, structures and innovations currently in use for managing forests.

This books explores how an analysis of past forest governance patterns from the global through to the local level, can help us to build institutions which more effectively deal with forests within the climate change regime. The book assesses the options under REDD to reduce emissions from deforestation in developing countries in the context of other forest policies. Based on an assessment of existing multi-level institutional forestry arrangements, the book questions how policy frameworks can be better designed in order to effectively and equitably govern the challenges of deforestation and land degradation under the global climate change regime.

Deforestation in tropical rainforest countries is one of the largest contributors to human-induced climate change. Deforestation, especially in the tropics, contributes around 20 per cent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, and, in the case of Indonesia, amounts to 85 per cent of its annual emissions from human activities. This book provides a comprehensive assessment of the emerging legal and policy frameworks for managing forests as a key means to address climate change. The authors uniquely combine an assessment of the international rules for forestry governance with a detailed assessment of the legal and institutional context of Indonesia; one of the most globally important test case jurisdictions for the effective roll-out of ‘Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation’ (REDD). Using Indonesia as a key case study, the book explores challenges that heavily forested States face in resource management to address climate mitigation imperatives, such as providing safeguards for local communities and indigenous peoples. This book will be of great relevance to students, scholars and policymakers with an interest in international environmental law, climate change and environment and sustainability studies in general.

Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.

An area of forest the size of England is cut down in the tropics each year. Forestry is responsible for a fifth of global carbon emissions - more than the entire world transport sector. Urgent action to tackle the loss of global forests needs to be a central part of any new international agreement on climate change. Climate Change: Financing Global Forests is an independent report commissioned by the UK Prime Minister to address this vitally important issue. It assesses the impact of global forest loss on climate change and explores the future role of forests in the international climate change framework, with particular emphasis on the role of international finance. It also looks at the economic and policy drivers of deforestation and describes the incentives required to ensure more sustainable production of agriculture and timber in order to meet global demand while reducing carbon emissions. The report draws on a wide range of international expertise and will have significant national, EU and international interest and influence. It includes new modelling and analysis of the global economic impact of continued deforestation and provides a comprehensive assessment of the opportunity and capacity-building costs of addressing the problem. It shows that the benefits of halving deforestation could amount to $3.7 trillion over the long term. However, if the international community does not act, the global economic cost of climate change caused by deforestation could amount to $12 trillion. In this comprehensive and detailed report, Johan Eliasch makes a clear and forceful case for forests to be included in international carbon trading mechanisms. He calls for the international community to support forest nations to halve deforestation by 2020 and to make the global forest sector carbon neutral by 2030.