The world’s forests provide countless environmental services on which people and the planet depend, but those services remain undervalued in traditional markets and financial systems.

Nobody wakes up wanting to destroy the rainforest. But our economy is structured in a way that provides clear financial incentives for individuals and companies to convert the natural, shared capital of a standing forest into private profit through deforestation.

As long as forest destruction remains more profitable than forest protection, converting forests into agricultural and grazing lands will continue to be the path of least resistance for business and development, leading to extensive forest degradation and destruction. In fact, agriculture alone is responsible for over 70 percent of deforestation in tropical and sub-tropical countries each year.

Forest Trends looks for new opportunities to make markets and finance work for forests, rather than at their expense, and to shift our economy toward appropriately valuing forests, and all of their co-benefits. We do so by developing and promoting innovative solutions that unlock public and private finance at the scale necessary to turn the tide on deforestation and make a compelling case for why forests are worth more alive than dead.

These approaches work not only to reduce global emissions from deforestation and conserve our natural infrastructure, but also to remedy the economic and social problems that underlie forest destruction; they focus just as much on alleviating poverty and empowering communities as on saving trees. Read More...

Specifically, we work to:

Reduce deforestation around the world

One of the most immediate and cost-effective strategies to fight climate change is by stopping the destruction of the world’s forests, which act as critical “sinks” that trap greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting forests, particularly in tropical regions, also delivers a wide array of social, economic, and environmental “co-benefits,” like essential livelihood opportunities for indigenous communities living in forested areas.

A central focus of Forest Trends’ research and policy work is the UN program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), which provides an international framework to incentivize tropical forest protection. Our initiatives bring unique and complementary perspectives to the most pressing questions around REDD+ today, like how to make the concept work in a way that lives up to its promise as a tool for climate action and sustainable development:

  • Forest Trends tracks REDD+ finance in 13 countries – from high-level donor commitments all the way down to how and when funds are actually spent on the ground – in order to expose gaps and needs to governments, multilaterals, climate negotiators, and other stakeholders.
  • Our Ecosystem Marketplace initiative tracks new and continuing REDD+ projects from around the world in the annual State of Forest Carbon Finance reports, reporting on key data and emerging trends in REDD+ project development and carbon markets.
  • Our Public-Private Finance Initiative works to link REDD+ finance to leverage other sources of investment – public and private, international and local – for forest conservation.
  • Our Communities Initiative helps indigenous communities strengthen their capacity to secure and manage their forests, thereby enabling them to effectively participate in and benefit from REDD+ mechanisms.
  • Our staff works with other NGOs in order to make sure that national and sub-national REDD+ programs are structured properly, with full input from all relevant stakeholders.

Track the booming field of “conservation investing”

There’s a new wave of investable conservation efforts – including sustainable forestry, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, and water – that are emerging in response to demand from “impact investors”, corporations, and other sources of private capital. Our research shows that investors are increasingly looking at forests, wetlands, and other natural landscapes as smart investments worth protecting and enhancing.

As private capital pours into activities like habitat protection and more forest-friendly food production, Forest Trends is working with others at the forefront of this emerging field to chart its growth and identify the obstacles that are keeping billions of dollars in potential investment stuck on the sidelines.

Find new synergies between sustainable agriculture and forest protection

Tropical forests mitigate climate change, protect watersheds, and provide havens for biodiversity, but they are under pressure from competing land-uses, especially agriculture, and there is often no economic reward for protecting them. Transforming agriculture to more sustainable models is possible, but the public sector cannot finance this transformation on its own.

That’s why we’re working in key tropical forest countries, like Brazil and Peru, to find creative approaches that leverage public and private finance together to support sustainable agriculture. In Ghana, we’re looking at ways to catalyze a transition to “climate-smart” cocoa farming, a pathway to increase yields and reduce farmers’ exposure to climate change risks. In each case, the end goal is to create new incentives for conserving forests and improving agricultural yields at the same time – slashing greenhouse gas emissions in the process.