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    • Opinion
    • #PlanetWorth

    Protecting tropical forests: A triple win for climate and development

    Rain forests play a crucial role in climate stability, support sustainable livelihoods and contribute to the resilience of households and societies. Investment in protecting these forests offers a rare triple win for climate, says Frances Seymour, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.

    By Frances Seymour // 14 December 2015

    On the opening day of the climate summit in Paris, 20 governments and dozens of high-tech industry leaders and philanthropists pledged to massively increase investment in research and development to spur innovation in clean energy. Although also the subject of high-level declarations, far less attention was devoted to a strategy for protecting the climate and promoting development that’s already in hand: maintaining tropical forests.

    It’s not widely appreciated that tropical forests have enjoyed a special place in climate change negotiations over the last decade. Recognizing deforestation as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, industrialized and developing countries have agreed on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation — or REDD+ — as a politically attractive mitigation strategy to meet global climate protection goals. Under REDD+, rich countries reward forest-rich countries for reducing deforestation on a payment-for-performance basis.

    In addition to their crucial role in promoting global climate stability, standing forests support sustainable livelihoods and contribute to the resilience of households and societies. As a result, investment in protecting tropical forests offers a rare triple win for climate and development.

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    The views in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect Devex's editorial views.

    About the author

    • Frances Seymour

      Frances Seymour

      Frances Seymour is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and a senior advisor to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She is leading a project designed to create global consensus on the importance of forest conservation, and to promote results-based financing for REDD+. Previously, she served as director general of the Center for International Forestry Research and was a founding director of the Institutions and Governance Program at the World Resources Institute.

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