Eye on the Taiga: Removing Global Policy Impediments to Safeguard the Boreal Forest

Jon Moen, Lucy Rist, Kevin Bishop, F Chapin III, David Ellison, Timo Kuuluvainen, Hans Petersson, Klaus Puettmann, Jeremy Rayner, Ian Warkentin, Corey Bradshaw

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    52 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The absence of boreal forests from global policy agendas on sustainable development and climate change mitigation represents a massive missed opportunity for environmental protection. The boreal zone contains some of the world's largest pools of terrestrial carbon that, if not safeguarded from a conversion to a net source of greenhouse gases, could seriously exacerbate global climate change. At the same time, boreal countries have a strong tradition of forest management-expertise that could be effectively leveraged toward global and national carbon mitigation targets and sustainable development. Current obstacles against such contributions include weak incentives for carbon sequestration and a reluctance to embrace change by forest managers and policy makers. We discuss possible solutions to overcome these obstacles, including the improvement of ineffective incentives, the development of alternative forest management strategies, and the need to maintain ecosystem resilience through the pursuit of policy and management options.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)408-418
    Number of pages11
    JournalConservation Letters
    Volume7
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Keywords

    • Boreal forest
    • Carbon
    • Climate change
    • Conservation
    • Forest management
    • Mitigation
    • Resilience

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