International Forest Carbon in Current Policy Proposals

Efforts to include emssions from deforestation and forest degradation in climate policy have gained considerable traction in recent years at multiple levels of governance. With mounting evidence that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations cannot be stabilized at a prudent level without addressing emissions from the forest sector, policy makers are actively seeking ways to integrate international forest carbon into existing and emerging greenhouse gas compliance regimes. Since 2005, for example, there has been concerted effort in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process to integrate reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation into a post 2012 climate treaty.