Opportunities for Carbon Emissions Reduction from Selective Logging in Suriname

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2019

Abstract

Improved forest management practices in tropical forests managed for timber can make a large contribution to climate change mitigation efforts (Houghton and Nassikas, 2018, Putz and Pinard, 1993). Well-managed tropical forests retain more carbon in vegetation and soils (e.g., Johns et al., 1996, Pinard and Putz, 1996) and more rapidly sequester carbon after logging (Roopsind et al., 2018, Vidal et al., 2016). Under the Paris Climate Accord, tropical countries can apply these reduced carbon emissions from improvements in forest management to meet their nationally determined commitments (NDCs; UNFCCC, 2013). Where selective logging is the principal forestry practice, these emission reductions could come from switching from conventional timber harvests to logging that includes a suite of reduced-impact logging (RIL) practices with trained forestry personnel (Sasaki et al., 2016). Emissions reductions achieved from improved forest management would be eligible for compensation under existing climate financing schemes, such as voluntary carbon markets (VCS, 2016) and the UN-REDD+ program (FCPF, 2018).

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