Climate change is a primary threat to the development prospects of poor countries and households, and maintaining tropical forests is an essential component of any global emissions mitigation strategy. Forests also provide goods and services that contribute directly to rural livelihoods, food security, and climate resilience. Yet despite decades of international cooperation to control deforestation, forest loss continues at a rapid rate, driven in large part by consumption patterns and policies in rich countries.

In this public lecture, Ms Seymour will argue that success in reversing business-as-usual trends will depend on domestic political will and profound institutional and governance changes in forest countries. She will discuss options that are available to rich country governments, corporations, and citizens to accelerate progressive reform.

Options include providing significant financial rewards to national governments and sub-national jurisdictions in the form of performance-based payments for reductions in deforestation, and market-based incentives for removing deforestation (and other adverse impacts) from commodity supply chains. These actions are urgent, affordable, and politically feasible, and constitute a bridge to a future global climate agreement that includes forests.

Frances Seymour is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) and a Senior Advisor to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She has also served as as Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), an international organisation headquartered in Indonesia, where she led strategy development and contributed to publications on forests and climate change.

This lecture is part of the 2014 Australasian Aid and International Development Workshop, February 13-14, 2014. To register for the Workshop and for more information, go to: https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/australasian-aid-and-international-development-policy-workshop

This lecture is presented by the Development Policy Centre and the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.

Further information about the Development Policy Centre: https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/