Policy Impacts on Deforestation: Lessons from Past Experiences to Inform New Initiatives

A policy brief exploring what has worked in reducing forest loss and degradation and what has not, and the reasons for these different outcomes.

Author(s): Alexander Pfaff, Gregory S. Amacher, Kathleen Lawlor, Erin O. Sills, Michael J. Coren, and Charlotte Streck

Published: June 2009

download: policy brief (.pdf) >

National and international efforts to reduce deforestation during the last few decades, while having some impact, have failed to substantially slow the loss of the world’s tropical forests. Tropical deforestation is widespread and accounts for about 17% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. New global concern about climate change, together with the realization that reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) can play a large role in climate change mitigation, makes it critical to learn from previous influences on rates of deforestation.