Climate Change
Herbaceous plant diversity in forest ecosystems: patterns, mechanisms, and threatsBACKGROUND:Recent studies have expanded our ecological understanding by focusing on forest herbs, highlighting that while trees dominate ecological theory, they represent only a small fraction of forest plant diversity. Forests showcase varying plant diversity due to human activities like land-use changes, invasive species, climate change, and overabundant herbivores, necessitating comprehensive management strategies. By understanding the complex interplay of these factors, the research aims to promote effective long-term conservation and sustainability of herbaceous plant communities in these environments. Available with subscription or purchase |
Putting seedlings on the map: Trade‐offs in demographic rates between ontogenetic size classes in five tropical forestsBACKGROUND:The study examines tropical forests in regions such as Panama, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Ecuador, which are characterized by their high biodiversity and significant environmental challenges like cyclonic storms. These forests are ideal for investigating demographic trade-offs due to their diverse coexisting tree species that align along growth, survival, and stature recruitment axes. The forests have experienced varying levels of disturbance from natural events, making them unique examples for studying tree species’ life-history strategies and the mechanisms that facilitate species coexistence. Available with subscription or purchase |
REDD’ing Forest Conservation: The Philippine PredicamentBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
The Social Life of Forest Carbon: Property and Politics in the Production of a New CommodityBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
Governing the Global Commons: Linking Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical ForestsBackgroundClimate change and biodiversity loss rank among the most urgent global environmental challenges, yet international frameworks often address them separately. Scientific evidence increasingly highlights the deep connections between these issues, particularly in tropical forests. Despite this overlap, carbon finance mechanisms—such as the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)—traditionally exclude efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation (REDD), instead prioritizing afforestation and reforestation. This article investigates how incentive-based mechanisms can better align carbon sequestration goals with biodiversity conservation, focusing especially on the role of tropical forests. Open access copy available |
Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate researchBackgroundEffective solutions-oriented research values both the process and the outcomes, recognizing that genuine partnerships across knowledge systems emerge within broader political shifts. Yet, international environmental organizations often exclude non-Western knowledge from their frameworks, reinforcing epistemic injustices that mirror social and political inequalities. Transformative change in addressing the climate crisis demands a critical examination of how knowledge and power interact, ensuring the integration—not marginalization—of diverse perspectives. Open access copy available |
The 2023 state of the climate report: Entering uncharted territoryBackgroundThe Earth faces a climate crisis as human activities increasing the release of harmful greenhouse gases, turning scientists' warnings of extreme conditions into reality. Climate records are breaking, causing widespread suffering. This report examines the global climate crisis, presenting key climate facts and policy recommendations for scientists, policymakers, and the public. It serves as an up-to-date resource on the escalating emergency. Open access copy available |
Forest carbon offsets and carbon emissions trading: Problems of contractingBACKGROUND:Monitoring and measuring carbon fluxes in forestry are complex and costly, exacerbated by asymmetric information and inadequate institutions, leading to unstable values in carbon trading. Good governance is essential for effective contracting in the carbon market but often falls short, leading to misaligned incentives and principal-agent problems. These issues frequently delay successful contracting, potentially resulting in corruption and disputes over carbon offset claims. Available with subscription or purchase |
The contribution of forest carbon credit projects to addressing the climate change challengeBACKGROUND: Historically, forestry projects face significant challenges due to uncertainties around the permanence of carbon storage and the complexities of carbon measurement. These challenges limit their effectiveness and integration into international carbon markets, such as those established under the Kyoto Protocol, which have predominantly favored other types of carbon reduction projects over forestry. The paper focuses on the potential of forest carbon credit projects, particularly in the context of enhanced carbon sequestration accounting standards and their integration into carbon markets. GOALS AND METHODS: Open access copy available |
The principles of natural climate solutionsBACKGROUND:Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) were consolidated as a holistic concept in 2017, leveraging human interventions in land management to mitigate climate change by adapting existing conservation knowledge for climate action. Over the past six years, the implementation of NCS has seen a rapid increase in attention, as indicated by a significant rise in social media discussions and funding commitments, though these efforts still fall short of the levels required to meet global climate mitigation goals. The authors use a comprehensive review of scientific literature and best practices to distill foundational and operational Open access copy available |
