The role of forest management in the climate debate

Over the past decades, large forest areas have been deforested or degraded, especially in the humid tropics. The causes lie in the continuous demand of land for conversion to commercial agricultural land, slash-and-burn subsistence farming, and the exploitation of mineral resources, and also in illegal logging for fuelwood and timber and unsustainable forest management Deforestation has been a cause of great concern in recent years. This is mainly due to its negative impact on global warming and regional rainfall patterns. Today, tropical deforestation and unsustainable forest management contribute about 11 % to greenhouse gas emissions. After the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015, the REDD+ concept (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of sinks) has become a key component for CO₂ compensation schemes to preserve forests in developing countries. Many tropical forest countries, international organizations, NGOs, and companies are now engaged in creating methodologies and capacities for such compensation schemes. Sustainable forest management, as applied by Precious Woods, will play an important role in this regard. We will continue to monitor the further development of REDD+ activities and carefully evaluate its eligibility to participate in REDD+ compensation projects.