Biodiversity conservation can reduce poverty, study finds

Shameless self-promotion: The knowledge review I had been working on for The Nature Conservancy has been published. Does Conserving Biodiversity Work to Reduce Poverty: A State of Knowledge Review can be downloaded from ConserveOnline.  Read More

Rampant Illegal Logging in Indonesia Detrimental for Human Rights, Report Concludes

A tree in the forest in North Sulawesi, Indonesia Indonesia: Illegal logging is not only leading to rainforest destruction, but is also exacerbating poverty, causing human rights to be violated. Unless the Indonesian government can rein-in corruption, future efforts to stop deforestation (such as REDD) are likely to fail. Human Rights Watch has just released a report titled Wild Money that details how rampant corruption in Indonesia’s forestry... Read More

Will REDD be a Cause of Conflict?

Indonesia is welcoming a newly emerging forest carbon mechanism, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), as a means to mitigate climate change. Nearly 20% of global CO2 emissions are released into the atmosphere as a result of deforestation, and many see the prevention of these emissions as relatively inexpensive way to combat climate change. Under REDD, industrialized nations will be able to offset their carbon emissions by... Read More