Forests and climate change
Oxford, United Kingdom 17 July
Course Outline
Deforestation is the second largest contributor to human induced carbon emissions, after fossil fuel consumption. This course introduces you to:
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the impacts of deforestation and forest degradation on global atmospheric carbon
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the rapidly changing framework of policy and tools for managing forest carbon
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the drivers of forest loss
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approaches for reducing or reversing such loss.
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the implications for conservation and forest-dependent peoples
The course will look at initiatives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) both within the UN Climate Change Convention and in other initiatives including national fund-based approaches such as the Amazon Fund and within the voluntary carbon sector. The discussion will examine the role of forestry standards and certification schemes, carbon markets and multilateral investment, and forest law-enforcement, governance and trade initiatives on the forest-carbon debate.
We will use case studies to illustrate key topics and create a space for discussion on direction for the future.
Outcomes
By the end of the course participants will be familiar with the role of forests in the climate change debate, understand some of the drivers of forest loss and considered ways different initiatives are seeking to address these drivers.