Featured on the weekly issue of the European Commission’s Science for Environment Policy DG Environment News Alert Service is ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins research that provides new perspectives to guide a wholesome approach to efforts on reducing emissions from deforestation and land degradation. The research introduces a concept called Emissions Embodied in Trade (EET) which calls for countries to account for emissions not just those of products produced within the country but also for import products consumed in the country.
The evidence presented shows that as much as agricultural productivity and effective policies of reforestation and forest protection have contributed to increased forest areas in countries such as Costa Rica, Vietnam and China, these countries have made this transition by increasing their imports of agricultural and forestry products from other countries, thus displacing their land use and transferring their emissions to export countries. This carbon ‘footprint’ needs to be accounted for, so that efforts to reduce global emissions through land use are not rendered counterproductive. Read full article (PDF) from the European Commission’s Science for Environment Policy News Alert Service.
This research work is supported by the European Union and the Norwegian Development Agency. Click here for a related story on the ASB website. Download ASB policy brief: Emissions Embodied in Trade (EET) and Land use in Tropical Forest Margins (PDF). Read More
