Dr Bhaskar Vira, senior lecturer at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Geography, presented new findings on the relationship between biodiversity, forest management and potential REDD+ activities at the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity on 16 October 2012. The UN-REDD Programme is a collaborative initiative aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.
The new assessment – which was carried out by a Global Forest Expert Panel on Biodiversity, Forest Management and REDD+ – highlights the need to prioritise social and economic objectives alongside environmental concerns to increase the likelihood of more equitable and efficient outcomes to forest management.
Ongoing conversion of forests to agriculture is still a major cause of global biodiversity loss on earth. Deforestation is also the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions induced by humans, after fossil fuel emissions. However, forests provide essential ecosystem services to people, such as food, fuel and fibre, and help regulate global climate and water.
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Image: Forest
Credit: Robstephaustralia on flickr
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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Trade-offs highlighted at UN conference on biodiversity
26 October 2012
Prioritising social and economic objectives alongside environmental concerns is crucial in forest management, says Cambridge researcher at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.