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An Introduction to Forest Trends. Our Mission:. Forest Trends seeks to accelerate the evolution of economic systems in which: Commerce sustains forest ecosystem services (e.g. watershed protection, biodiversity and carbon storage)
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Our Mission: • Forest Trends seeks to accelerate the evolution of economic systems in which: • Commerce sustains forest ecosystem services (e.g. watershed protection, biodiversity and carbon storage) • Companies and communities that manage forest ecosystems in a sustainable fashion receive market recognition, and • An equitable share of the benefits generated from forest-based commerce is returned to local communities.
Our Strategic Goals: • Accelerate the development of markets for forest ecosystem services • Expand markets and investments that encourage improved forest management • Promote markets and investments that improve livelihoods of forest communities.
Our Niche Focused on: • Forestry, the area outside of protected areas • Markets and market based instruments (MBIs) • Critical markets, not just forests • Forest landscapes, not just high conservation value forests • One step closer to commerce
Forest Services: • International Working Group on Markets for Environmental Services (“Katoomba Group”) • Convenings held in critical markets / critical forests: • Sydney, 2000; British Columbia, 2001; Brazil, 2001; London, 2002; and Tokyo, 2002 • Products: • Introduction of Market-Based Instruments for forest services • Global scoping of MBIs for watershed management with cases (with WRI), MBIs for biodiversity (with The World Bank) • Interactive simulation trading game for environmental services • Support FLOWS as a dissemination mechanism
Investment in Sustainable Forestry Management: • East Asia Initiative • Yellow Mountain, China, May 2001 “Market-based Approaches to Sustainable Forestry Development and Forestry- based Poverty Alleviation: Global Trends and Implications for China” • Shanghai, China, September 2001“From Forest to Furniture: New Green Market Opportunities in China” • Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, September 2001 “Commercial Forestry in the Russian Far East: Opportunities for Sustainable Trade, Conservation, and Community Development” • Advising China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development • Pacific Rim Initiative To better coordinate existing interventions and new initiatives (w/ WWF, CIFOR, RCEEE, Weyerhaeuser, etc.) • Joint plan, market and investment analysis
Investment in Sustainable Forestry Management : • Forest Conservation Finance: • Developing scorecard/due diligence criteria for socially responsible investments • Initiating design of forest ecosystem investment fund • Emerging Issues: • Assess impact of certification movement and challenges ahead • Analysis of best practices of forest plantations • Consumption: information on alternative paper sources, building materials and packaging materials
Forests and Livelihoods • Strategic Information: Reports: forest and tenure, status and issues • Who Owns the World’s Forests? • Making Markets Work for Forest Communities • Catalyzing Market Connections • With local stakeholders, evaluate market chains of community forest products, work towards addressing gaps and structural constraints • Brazil, China, India and Mexico