Implementation and opportunity costs of reducing deforestation and forest degradation in Tanzania

Fisher, Brendan; Lewis, Simon L.; Burgess, Neil D.; Malimbwi, Rogers E.; Munishi, Panteleo K.; Swetnam, Ruth D.; Turner, Kerry; Willcock, Simon; Balmford, Andrew

dc.creator	Fisher, Brendan
dc.creator	Lewis, Simon L.
dc.creator	Burgess, Neil D.
dc.creator	Malimbwi, Rogers E.
dc.creator	Munishi, Panteleo K.
dc.creator	Swetnam, Ruth D.
dc.creator	Turner, Kerry
dc.creator	Willcock, Simon
dc.creator	Balmford, Andrew
dc.date	2017-02-27T11:36:37Z
dc.date	2017-02-27T11:36:37Z
dc.date	2011
dc.date.accessioned	2022-10-25T08:50:34Z
dc.date.available	2022-10-25T08:50:34Z
dc.identifier	https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/1293
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/90358
dc.description	NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE VOL 1, JUNE 2011
dc.description	The Cancún Agreements provide strong backing for a REDDC (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism whereby developed countries pay developing ones for forest conservation1. REDDC has potential to simultaneously deliver cost-effective climate change mitigation and human development2–5. However, most REDDC analysis has used coarse-scale data, overlooked important opportunity costs to tropical forest users4,5 and failed to consider how to best invest funds to limit leakage, that is, merely displacing deforestation6. Here we examine these issues for Tanzania, a REDDCcountry, by comparing district-scale carbon losses from deforestation with the opportunity costs of carbon conservation. Opportunity costs are estimated as rents from both agriculture and charcoal production (the most important proximate causes of regional forest conversion7–9). As an alternativewe also calculate the implementation costs of alleviating the demand for forest conversion—thereby addressing the problem of leakage—by raising agricultural yields on existing cropland and increasing charcoal fuel-use efficiency. The implementation costs exceed the opportunity costs of carbon conservation (medians of US$6.50 versus US$3.90 per Mg CO2), so effective REDDC policies may cost more than simpler estimates suggest. However, even if agricultural yields are doubled, implementation is possible at the competitive price of US$12 per Mg CO2.
dc.format	application/pdf
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited
dc.relation	NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE;VOL 1 j JUNE 2011
dc.subject	Forest Degradation
dc.subject	Deforestation
dc.subject	REDDC
dc.subject	Climate change mitigation
dc.subject	Charcoal production
dc.subject	Carbon conservation
dc.title	Implementation and opportunity costs of reducing deforestation and forest degradation in Tanzania
dc.type	Article