Tropical Forests and Climate Change

This CFAN Forestry Issues paper gives an overview of global climate change, its causes, its impact on forests, and how forests can help to mitigate it.

It concludes that forest-related interventions can have numerous positive spinoff effects apart from carbon sequestration and storage including:

• improved supply of wood products
• better management of protected areas
• increased agricultural production through agroforestry
• creation of employment opportunities in rural areas
• improved environmental management.

On this basis the paper recommends:

• greater integration of climate change initiatives with other ongoing sustainable development programs
• donors and recipient countries alike to adopt an effective coordination mechanism to avoid waste and duplication of financial resources
• securing the support of the governments, the local communities, and the populace at large
• participatory approaches in planning and implementation
• benefit sharing

Constraints include

• weak governmental and non-governmental institutions
• inadequate higher education, training, and research
• demand for basic human needs of local populations
• pressure for additional agricultural land and consequent deforestation
• high cost of plantation establishment and maintenance
• ecological issues related to planting monocultures, reducing biodiversity, and the effect of using agrochemicals in tree plantations
• lack of appropriate financing