Work

Harnessing Carbon Payments to Protect Biodiversity

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: Initiatives to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) are providing increasing incentives for forest protection. The collateral benefits for biodiversity depend on the extent to which emissions reductions and biodiversity conservation can be achieved in the same places. Globally, we demonstrate spatial trade-offs in allocating funds to protect forests for carbon and biodiversity and show that cost-effective spending for REDD would protect relatively few species of forest vertebrates. Because trade-offs are nonlinear, we discover that minor adjustments to the allocation of funds could double the biodiversity protected by REDD, while reducing carbon outcomes by only 4 to 8%.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1180289

Authors: Oscar Venter, William F. Laurance, Takuya Iwamura, Kerrie A. Wilson, Richard A. Fuller, Hugh P. Possingham

Institutions: The University of Queensland, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, James Cook University

Language: English

Topic: Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Life on land, Climate action

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2045048339

FWCI: 18.27

Cites: 6

Cited by: 247

Related to: 9