The role of forestry in the current climate change debate

In the past two decades, more than 100 million hectares of forest have been degraded or converted into other land uses, particularly in the tropics. There are multitudinous causes: the continuing demand for land for commercial livestock farming and agriculture, slash-and-burn subsistence farming, the increasing exploitation of mineral resources in tropical forests, uncontrolled forest fires, illegal logging for firewood and sawn timber, or simply non-sustainable forestry. Deforestation has still been a cause for great concern in recent years. This is mainly due to its negative impact on global warming and the special climate regime of large forest massifs. Today, deforestation in the tropics and non-sustainable forestry contribute about 11 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. After the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, the REDD+ concept (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks) has become a key component of carbon compensation schemes for preserving forests in tropical countries. Many countries with tropical forest areas, international organizations, NGOs, scientific institutes and companies are currently engaged in creating methods and capacities for such compensation schemes and projects. Sustainable forestry as applied and advocated by Precious Woods will play an important role in this regard. We will continue to pursue the development of REDD+ activities and are currently carefully considering participation in REDD+ compensation projects or other international initiatives.