Papers by Tathiana Bezerra
Carbon Management
Jurisdictional REDDþ (JR) is based on the premise that results-based flows of finance can drive c... more Jurisdictional REDDþ (JR) is based on the premise that results-based flows of finance can drive changes in complex land-use systems across entire nations or subnational jurisdictions to achieve large-scale reductions in carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The early JR experiments demonstrate that the promise of payments is, alone, insufficient to drive a jurisdictional land-use system transition. Effective JR strategies are needed that translate financeor the prospect of financeinto forest-friendly changes in the landuse system that are embedded in public policies and programs aligned to achieve that end. Adaptive management has yet to be incorporated into JR programs and could potentially improve the performance of JR. To address this gap, we present a methodology for adaptively managing JR programs that features (a) a "living" mechanistic model of the jurisdictional land-use system, (b) an operational theory of change that describes how the JR strategy will intervene in this system to lower emissions, (c) an annual or biennial assessment process that revisits the theory of change through an independent group of experts and quantitative analysis of spatially-explicit components of the strategy, and (d) a decisionmaking body for adaptively refining the strategy based on the assessment. The methodology is illustrated for Ecuador's national JR program, the "REDD þ Action Plan" (AP), that has secured commitments of results-based payments and international cooperation funds totaling US $120 million.
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
From 2006 to 2011, CO2 emissions to the atmosphere from deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reg... more From 2006 to 2011, CO2 emissions to the atmosphere from deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon region declined by a total of 2.2 billion tons. If this historical achievement is to be secured and deepened, REDD+ must be rapidly reframed to focus on low-emission rural development, broadly defined.
Science (New York, N.Y.), Jan 6, 2014
The recent 70% decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon suggests that it is possible to m... more The recent 70% decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon suggests that it is possible to manage the advance of a vast agricultural frontier. Enforcement of laws, interventions in soy and beef supply chains, restrictions on access to credit, and expansion of protected areas appear to have contributed to this decline, as did a decline in the demand for new deforestation. The supply chain interventions that fed into this deceleration are precariously dependent on corporate risk management, and public policies have relied excessively on punitive measures. Systems for delivering positive incentives for farmers to forgo deforestation have been designed but not fully implemented. Territorial approaches to deforestation have been effective and could consolidate progress in slowing deforestation while providing a framework for addressing other important dimensions of sustainable development.
Aumentar la producción terrestre y a la vez reducir la deforestación, degradación forestal, emisi... more Aumentar la producción terrestre y a la vez reducir la deforestación, degradación forestal, emisión de gases de efecto invernadero y pobreza rural.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013
Climate change and rapidly escalating global demand for food, fuel, fibre and feed present seemin... more Climate change and rapidly escalating global demand for food, fuel, fibre and feed present seemingly contradictory challenges to humanity. Can greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land-use, more than one-fourth of the global total, decline as growth in land-based production accelerates? This review examines the status of two major international initiatives that are designed to address different aspects of this challenge. REDD+ is an emerging policy framework for providing incentives to tropical nations and states that reduce their GHG emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Market transformation, best represented by agricultural commodity roundtables, seeks to exclude unsustainable farmers from commodity markets through international social and environmental standards for farmers and processors. These global initiatives could potentially become synergistically integrated through (i) a shared approach for measuring and favouring high environmental and social performance of land use across entire jurisdictions and (ii) stronger links with the domestic policies, finance and laws in the jurisdictions where agricultural expansion is moving into forests. To achieve scale, the principles of REDD+ and sustainable farming systems must be embedded in domestic low-emission rural development models capable of garnering support across multiple constituencies. We illustrate this potential with the case of Mato Grosso State in the Brazilian Amazon.
Rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be needed if the nations of the wo... more Rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be needed if the nations of the world are to succeed in reducing the risks of climate change. Globally, tropical deforestation and land-use change causes approximately 15% of annual GHG emissions. Many scientists, economists, and policymakers agree that reducing tropical deforestation can significantly reduce GHG emissions in a cost-effective manner. Because the development of a new international climate treaty that could take effect when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period sunsets at the end of this year continues to be delayed, efforts now are under way outside the formal international negotiations conducted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to realize the potential for reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation and additional forest carbon sequestration (REDD+) activities to reduce near-term GHG emissions.
One of the most promising alternative pathways to begin to realize this potential and provide proof-of-concept that REDD+ could become an important source of low-cost, high-volume GHG emissions offsets is the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF). The GCF is composed of representatives from 16 states and provinces of Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and the United States, including 14 states and provinces located in tropical forest nations that are developing jurisdiction-wide REDD+ programs capable of coming into alignment with California's new statewide GHG cap-and-trade program and other emerging market and non-market opportunities.
This report reviews the status of these REDD+ programs, assesses progress made toward the development of nine essential components of REDD+ programs, and evaluates the potential of these programs to provide high-quality GHG emissions offsets that could be used for compliance purposes in emerging GHG cap-and-trade systems in California and elsewhere or transferred into other systems of performance-based compensation.
The report presents four detailed case studies of evolving REDD+ programs. It includes the two states (Acre, Brazil, and Chiapas, Mexico) that have signed a memorandum of understanding to link their REDD+ programs with California's new GHG cap-and-trade system. It also includes the state that has achieved the greatest emissions reductions (Mato Grosso, Brazil) and one of the most mature REDD+ programs in Indonesia (Aceh).
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Papers by Tathiana Bezerra
One of the most promising alternative pathways to begin to realize this potential and provide proof-of-concept that REDD+ could become an important source of low-cost, high-volume GHG emissions offsets is the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF). The GCF is composed of representatives from 16 states and provinces of Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and the United States, including 14 states and provinces located in tropical forest nations that are developing jurisdiction-wide REDD+ programs capable of coming into alignment with California's new statewide GHG cap-and-trade program and other emerging market and non-market opportunities.
This report reviews the status of these REDD+ programs, assesses progress made toward the development of nine essential components of REDD+ programs, and evaluates the potential of these programs to provide high-quality GHG emissions offsets that could be used for compliance purposes in emerging GHG cap-and-trade systems in California and elsewhere or transferred into other systems of performance-based compensation.
The report presents four detailed case studies of evolving REDD+ programs. It includes the two states (Acre, Brazil, and Chiapas, Mexico) that have signed a memorandum of understanding to link their REDD+ programs with California's new GHG cap-and-trade system. It also includes the state that has achieved the greatest emissions reductions (Mato Grosso, Brazil) and one of the most mature REDD+ programs in Indonesia (Aceh).
One of the most promising alternative pathways to begin to realize this potential and provide proof-of-concept that REDD+ could become an important source of low-cost, high-volume GHG emissions offsets is the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF). The GCF is composed of representatives from 16 states and provinces of Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and the United States, including 14 states and provinces located in tropical forest nations that are developing jurisdiction-wide REDD+ programs capable of coming into alignment with California's new statewide GHG cap-and-trade program and other emerging market and non-market opportunities.
This report reviews the status of these REDD+ programs, assesses progress made toward the development of nine essential components of REDD+ programs, and evaluates the potential of these programs to provide high-quality GHG emissions offsets that could be used for compliance purposes in emerging GHG cap-and-trade systems in California and elsewhere or transferred into other systems of performance-based compensation.
The report presents four detailed case studies of evolving REDD+ programs. It includes the two states (Acre, Brazil, and Chiapas, Mexico) that have signed a memorandum of understanding to link their REDD+ programs with California's new GHG cap-and-trade system. It also includes the state that has achieved the greatest emissions reductions (Mato Grosso, Brazil) and one of the most mature REDD+ programs in Indonesia (Aceh).