The Crucial Role of Forests in Combating Climate Change

International Forest Carbon and the Climate Change Challenge Series – Brief No. 1

Author(s): Erin Myers Madeira, Lydia Olander, William Boyd, Kathleen Lawlor, John O. Niles

Published: June 2009

download: policy brief (.pdf) >

Tropical forests are disappearing rapidly – a process that accounts for some 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Saving tropical forests thus represents a significant, cost-effective, timely, and multiple-benefit opportunity for the United States and the international community in the fight against climate change. Seizing this opportunity will require leadership by the United States working in concert with tropical forest countries and the international community.