Redeeming REDD

Introduction

This book is written for those with an open mind on how best to address deforestation’s contributions to global climate change (GCC). The topic is important, because deforestation is estimated to generate around 20 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. These emissions in turn contribute to GCC and, with it, a progressive rise in temperature and climate anomalies. In an attempt to shock the world into action, the World Bank recently commissioned a report (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics 2012) on the implications of what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius (°C), which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the twenty-first ...