Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions—and hence limiting global warming—by slowing or stopping deforestation and degradation of forests, plus conserving them, seemed like a ‘quick fix’ when it was first mooted more than ten years ago, according to Dr Maria Brockhaus of the Center for International Forestry Research and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.
Dr Brockhaus, who was speaking at the 6th ASEAN Social Forestry Network Conference, Inle Lake, Myanmar, held 1–3 June 2015, added that, ‘However, it soon became apparent that implementing such schemes in developing countries wasn’t as easy as first thought’.
She was speaking from experience, having conducted a study with a team of researchers supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Australian Aid, UK AID, European Commission, USAID and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.