The global carbon markets began quietly in the late 1980s as part of a voluntary effort to save rainforests, but these small, voluntary efforts were quickly eclipsed – and often dismissed – when the Kyoto Protocol ushered in compliance markets a decade later. Now, however, it’s the compliance markets that are turning to the voluntary markets for guidance as regulators and voluntary market players rush to meet halfway.
Ecosystem Marketplace’s Carbon Program is wrapping up its collection process for this year’s State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets and Forest Carbon Markets reports – but not without one final call for responses. More information on the surveys and the latest news from around the world of voluntary carbon can be found in this edition of V-Carbon News.
The tiny state of Cross River, Nigeria, has managed to preserve large swathes of endangered rainforest despite lucrative – and often intimidating – offers from loggers and other interests. It’s also laid the groundwork for a state-wide program designed to earn international carbon credits by saving trees, thus securing its spot in an elite network of states that are moving forward as UN talks stall.
The past two weeks of forest carbon news has been complete with important developments in the world of REDD and carbon trading. With credits released in Kenya and key aspects of Norwey’s memerandums to Indonesia and Guyana in the news, there is plenty to read up about. And its not too late to make your contribution to the State of the Forest Carbon Markets 2011, with the survey deadline extended to February 28.
A few weeks back, we examined our top stories of 2010 in water, biodiversity, and forest carbon. In this week’s Forest Carbon Newsletter, we crunch our website traffic numbers a bit more to distill the top ten forest carbon themes of the past year – which appears to have been a pivotal one.
Along with the latest news from the New Year, this weeks Forest Carbon news is taking a last look at 2010. Ecosystem Marketplace’s team distilled website traffic over the past year, bringing the top 10 themes emerging from forest carbon news. 2010 proved to be a year of major milestones for the world of forest carbon – here is a reminder of the biggest ones.
Recent events leading up to the Cancun climate change discussions have hinted at greater inclusion of water in the context of the climate change negotiations. The collection of stories in this edition of W.E.T. reflect this reality and suggest that some are ahead of the curve in developing programs and policies to respond to climate change.
While UNFCCC COP16 has taken the spotlight this month, we have not forgottent the biodiversity market. Domestic news includes a recent change in the way the USACE is documenting decisions. International news includes the first global tiger conservation conference, held in St. Petersburg. Here is the latest from the world of biodiversity markets.
The front lines of environmental defense are many, and most of them aren’t manned by protesters and khaki-clad revolutionaries. Today, the battle is being waged by an interdisciplinary phalanx of foresters, botanists, lawyers and economists who aim to make sure the laws of man recognize both the laws of nature and the laws of supply and demand. They do, however, wear khaki.