Journal of Science Policy & Governance | Volume 18, Issue 02 | June 21, 2021

Op-Ed: Nature-Based Climate Solutions Require Us to Answer the “Where” and the “Who”

Rachel L. Lamb (1), Jeremy Schmidt (2)
  1. University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD
  2. University of Maryland, School of Public Policy, College Park, MD

Corresponding author: [email protected]
Download PDF
https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG180206
Keywords: carbon monitoring; climate change; community-based management; geography; indigenous peoples and local communities; natural climate solutions; nature-based solutions 
Executive Summary: The protection and restoration of nature are critical for climate change mitigation. As such, many international initiatives have been launched to champion the implementation of nature-based climate solutions (NBCS) while supporting other societal goals. Given global momentum, it is critical that policymakers proactively define successful NBCS activities to avoid perverse incentives and harmful land-use change. We argue that effective NBCS will support clear goals and make transparent the relative costs and benefits to climate, biodiversity, and human livelihood. To do this, NBCS must be designed based on the best geospatial science and implemented alongside empowered local communities. Specifically, NBCS should be accompanied by strong benefit-sharing mechanisms that involve procedural equity. Further, where changes in land management and land-use are required, land restoration should be accompanied by financial incentives that make such restoration profitable. Carbon markets could be expanded to include land-based carbon, and auction proceeds or tax revenues could be utilized to fund restoration on private land where landowners may be required to forego other profits over the short term. NBCS will help the global community advance important societal goals if policymakers can be specific about where national goals will be implemented and who will be empowered to make decisions about their design.

-Read the full article through download.-
Download PDF

References

  1. Bonn Challenge. n.d. “About the Bonn Challenge,” Accessed December 30, 2020. https://www.bonnchallenge.org/about
  2. Brancalion, Pedro H. S., Aidin Niamir, Eben Broadbent, Renato Crouzeilles, Felipe S. M. Barros, Angelica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Alessandro Baccini, et al. 2019. “Global Restoration Opportunities in Tropical Rainforest Landscapes.” Science Advances 5 (7): eaav3223. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav3223.
  3. Brown, Katrina, and Esteve Corbera. 2003. “Exploring Equity and Sustainable Development in the New Carbon Economy.” Climate Policy 3 (S1): 41–56. https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.clipol.2003.10.004.
  4. Brownson, Katherine, Elizabeth P. Anderson, Susana Ferreira, Seth Wenger, Laurie Fowler, and Laura German. 2020. “Governance of Payments for Ecosystem Ecosystem Services Influences Social and Environmental Outcomes in Costa Rica.” Ecological Economics 174 (August): 106659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106659
  5. Buchner, Barbara, Alex Clark, Angela Falconer, Rob Macquarie, Chavi Meattle, Rowena Tolentino, and Cooper Wetherbee. 2019. “Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2019.” Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2019-Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance.pdf.
  6. California Air Resources Board (CARB). n.d. “Cap-and-Trade Program.” California Air Resources Board, Accessed February 28, 2021. https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/cap-and-trade-program.​
  7. Camacho, Leni D., Dixon T. Gevaña, †Antonio P. Carandang, and Sofronio C. Camacho. 2016. “Indigenous Knowledge and Practices for the Sustainable Management of Ifugao Forests in Cordillera, Philippines.” International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management 12 (1–2): 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/21513732.2015.1124453.
  8. Centre for Public Impact (CPI). 2016 “Reforesting Costa Rica through Payments for Environmental Services (PES).” Centre for Public Impact, Last modified April 14, 2016. https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/payments-for-environmental-services.
  9. Chazdon, Robin L., David Lindenmayer, Manuel R. Guariguata, Renato Crouzeilles, José María Rey Benayas, and Elena Lazos Chavero. 2020. “Fostering Natural Forest Regeneration on Former Agricultural Land through Economic and Policy Interventions.” Environmental Research Letters 15 (4): 043002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab79e6.
  10. Cook-Patton, Susan C., Sara M. Leavitt, David Gibbs, Nancy L. Harris, Kristine Lister, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Russell D. Briggs, et al. 2020. “Mapping Carbon Accumulation Potential from Global Natural Forest Regrowth.” Nature 585 (7826): 545–50. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2686-x.
  11. Crouzeilles, Renato, Hawthorne L. Beyer, Lara M. Monteiro, Rafael Feltran-Barbieri, Ana C. M. Pessôa, Felipe S. M. Barros, David B. Lindenmayer, et al. 2020. “Achieving Cost-Effective Landscape-Scale Forest Restoration through Targeted Natural Regeneration.” Conservation Letters 13 (3): e12709. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12709.
  12. Dinerstein, E., A. R. Joshi, C. Vynne, A. T. L. Lee, F. Pharand-Deschênes, M. França, S. Fernando, et al. 2020. “A ‘Global Safety Net’ to Reverse Biodiversity Loss and Stabilize Earth’s Climate.” Science Advances 6 (36): eabb2824. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb2824.
  13. Dinerstein, E., C. Vynne, E. Sala, A. R. Joshi, S. Fernando, T. E. Lovejoy, J. Mayorga, et al. 2019. “A Global Deal For Nature: Guiding Principles, Milestones, and Targets.” Science Advances 5 (4): eaaw2869. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw2869.
  14. Dubayah, Ralph, James Bryan Blair, Scott Goetz, Lola Fatoyinbo, Matthew Hansen, Sean Healey, Michelle Hofton, et al. 2020. “The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation: High-Resolution Laser Ranging of the Earth’s Forests and Topography.” Science of Remote Sensing 1 (June): 100002. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2020.100002.
  15. Forsell, Nicklas, Olga Turkovska, Mykola Gusti, Michael Obersteiner, Michel den Elzen, and Petr Havlik. 2016. “Assessing the INDCs’ Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forest Emission Projections.” Carbon Balance and Management 11 (1): 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-016-0068-3.
  16. Global Environment Facility (GEF), 2020. Nature-Based Solutions And The GEF: Workshop Summary. https://www.stapgef.org/sites/default/files/documents/FINAL%20NbS%20workshop%20summary-September4.pdf
  17. Griscom, Bronson W., Justin Adams, Peter W. Ellis, Richard A. Houghton, Guy Lomax, Daniela A. Miteva, William H. Schlesinger, et al. 2017. “Natural Climate Solutions.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114 (44). National Academy of Sciences: 11645–50. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1710465114.
  18. Griscom, Bronson W., Jonah Busch, Susan C. Cook-Patton,Peter W. Ellis, Jason Funk, Sara M. Leavitt, Guy Lomax, et al. 2020. “National Mitigation Potential from Natural Climate Solutions in the Tropics.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375 (1794). Royal Society: 20190126. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0126.
  19. Hurtt, George, Diane Wickland, Kenneth Jucks, Kevin Bowman, Molly Brown, Riley Duren, Stephen Hagen, and Ariane Verdy. 2014. “NASA Carbon Monitoring System: Prototype Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification.” https://carbon.nasa.gov/pdfs/2014_CarbonMonitoringSystem_ProgressReport.pdf.
  20. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 2016. “IUCN Global Standard for NbS.” International Union for Conservation of Nature. Accessed December 30, 2020. https://www.iucn.org/theme/nature-based-solutions/resources/iucn-global-standard-nbs.
  21. Lamb, Rachel L, George Hurtt, Tee Jay Boudreau, Elliott Campbell, Edil Sepúlveda Carlo, Hong-Hanh Chu, Jennifer de Mooy, et al. 2021a. “Context and Future Directions for Integrating Forest Carbon into Sub-National Climate Mitigation Planning in the RGGI Region of the U.S.” Environmental Research Letters, February. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe6c2.
  22. Lamb, Rachel, Ma, Lei, Sahajpal, Ritvik, Hultman, Nathan, Edmonds, James, Dubayah, Ralph, Kennedy, Jennifer, & Hurtt, George. 2021b. “Geospatial assessment of the economic opportunity for reforestation in Maryland (USA).” Environmental Research Letters. In review.
  23. Lieuw-Kie-Song, Maikel, and Vanessa Perez-Cirera. 2020. “NATURE HIRES: How Nature-Based Solutions Can Power a Green Jobs Recovery.” Publication. http://www.ilo.org/employment/units/emp-invest/rural-urban-job-creation/WCMS_757823/lang--en/index.htm.
  24. Lintunen, Jussi, Jani Laturi, and Jussi Uusivuori. 2016. “How Should a Forest Carbon Rent Policy Be Implemented?” Forest Policy and Economics 69 (August): 31–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.04.005.
  25. Luttrell, Cecilia, Lasse Loft, Maria Fernanda Gebara, Demetrius Kweka, Maria Braockhaus, Arild Angelsen, and William D. Sunderlin. 2013. “Who Should Benefit from REDD+? Rationales and Realities.” Ecology and Society 18 (4). http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05834-180452.
  26. Ma, Lei, George Hurtt, Lesley Ott, Ritvik Sahajpal, Justin Fisk, Steve Flanagan, Benjamin Poulter, Shunlin Liang, Joe Sullivan, and Ralph Dubayah. 2020. “Global Ecosystem Demography Model (ED-Global v1.0): Development, Calibration and Evaluation for NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI).” Other. Climatology (Global Change). https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10505486.1.
  27. Ma, Lei, George Hurtt, Hao Tang, Rachel L Lamb, Elliott Campbell, Ralph O. Dubayah, Maddie Guy, et al. 2021. “High-Resolution Forest Carbon Modeling for Climate Mitigation Planning over the RGGI Region, USA.” Environmental Research Letters, February. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe4f4.
  28. Maclean, Ruth. 2018. “The Great African Regreening: Millions of ‘magical’ New Trees Bring Renewal.” The Guardian, August 16, 2018, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/16/regreening-niger-how-magical-gaos-transformed-land.
  29. Naidoo, Robin, and Brendan Fisher. 2020. “Reset Sustainable Development Goals for a Pandemic World.” Nature 583 (7815): 198–201. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01999-x.
  30. NASA. n.d. “NASA Carbon Monitoring System.” Carbon NASA. Accessed February 28, 2021. https://carbon.nasa.gov/.
  31. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). 2020. ‘Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Strategic Funding Plan’. https://nj.gov/rggi/docs/rggi-strategic-funding-plan.pdf
  32. Osuri, Anand M., Abhishek Gopal, T. R. Shankar Raman, Ruth DeFries, Susan C. Cook-Patton, and Shahid Naeem. 2020. “Greater Stability of Carbon Capture in Species-Rich Natural Forests Compared to Species-Poor Plantations.” Environmental Research Letters 15 (3): 034011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5f75.
  33. Owen, Emily, and Courtney Durham. 2020. “Nature-Based Solutions Can Help Rebuild Economies After COVID-19.” Pew Trusts. August 3, 2020. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/08/03/nature-based-solutions-can-help-rebuild-economies-after-covid-19.
  34. Parrotta, John, Youn Yeo-Chang, and Leni D. Camacho. 2016. “Traditional Knowledge for Sustainable Forest Management and Provision of Ecosystem Services.” International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management 12 (1–2): 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/21513732.2016.1169580.
  35. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). n.d. “Welcome: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.” Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.rggi.org/.
  36. Sangha, Kamaljit K., Luke Preece, Jaramar Villarreal-Rosas, Juma J. Kegamba, Kiran Paudyal, Tui Warmenhoven, and P.S. RamaKrishnan. 2018. “An Ecosystem Services Framework to Evaluate Indigenous and Local Peoples’ Connections with Nature.” Ecosystem Services 31 (June): 111–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2018.03.017.
  37. Schlager, Edella, and Elinor Ostrom. 1992. “Property-Rights Regimes and Natural Resources: A Conceptual Analysis.” Land Economics 68 (3): 249–62. https://doi.org/10.2307/3146375.
  38. Stevens, Caleb, Robert Winterbottom, Jenny Springer, and Katie Reytar. 2014. “Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change.” World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/publication/securing-rights-combating-climate-change.
  39. Strassburg, Bernardo B. N., Alvaro Iribarrem, Hawthorne L. Beyer, Carlos Leandro Cordeiro, Renato Crouzeilles, Catarina C. Jakovac, André Braga Junqueira, et al. 2020. “Global Priority Areas for Ecosystem Restoration.” Nature 586 (7831): 724–29. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2784-9.
  40. United Nations (UN). n.d. “About the UN Decade.” Decade on Restoration. Accessed December 30, 2020. https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/about-un-decade.
  41. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2019. “Pathway for Increasing Nature-Based Solutions in NDCs: A Seven-Step Approach for Enhancing Nationally Determined Contributions through Nature-Based Solutions.” New York: UNDP. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/climate-and-disaster-resilience-/pathway-for-increasing-nature-based-solutions-in-ndcs.html.
  42. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2020. “Nature-Based Climate Solutions.” UNDP. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/climate-and-disaster-resilience-/UNDP-Issues-Brief-on-Nature-Based-Climate-Solutions.html.
  43. United States Climate Alliance (USCA). 2020. “Natural and Working Lands Challenge.” United States Climate Alliance. Last modified January 14, 2020. http://www.usclimatealliance.org/nwlchallenge
  44. Vhugen, Darryl., Soledad Aguilar, Leo Peskett, andJonathan Miner. 2012. “REDD and Carbon Rights: Lessons from the Field. Property Rights and Resource Government Project.” Washington, DC, USA: United States Agency for International Development. https://land-links.org/research-publication/redd-and-carbon-rights-lessons-from-the-field/.
  45. Waring, Bonnie, Mathias Neumann, Iain Colin Prentice, Mark Adams, Pete Smith, and Martin Siegert. 2020. “Forests and Decarbonization – Roles of Natural and Planted Forests.” Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 3. Frontiers. doi:10.3389/ffgc.2020.00058.
  46. World Bank. n.d. “Carbon Pricing Dashboard | Up-to-Date Overview of Carbon Pricing Initiatives.” Accessed December 30, 2020. https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org.
Rachel L. Lamb is a Maryland Sea Grant State Science Policy Fellow with the Maryland Department of the Environment Climate Change Program. She also serves as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Geographical Sciences where she recently earned her PhD. Rachel also holds a Master of Public Policy and Master of Science in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology from UMD. Her recent research focuses on advancing strategic reforestation in support of climate mitigation and other social and environmental goals alongside member states of U.S. Climate Alliance and partners at NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System. Twitter @Rachel_L_Lamb.
 
Jeremy Schmidt is a Master of Public Policy graduate student at University of Maryland with career interests in sustainable development in Latin America. Most recently, he has conducted research for Department of State investigating environmental and social safeguard policies for development financed by multilateral development banks. He has consulted for Conservation International where he researched the viability of carbon pricing mechanisms paired with natural climate solutions offsets in East and West African countries. He graduated from Brandeis University Summa Cum Laude with degrees in Psychology, Anthropology and Latin American Studies. He also served in the Peace Corps from 2015 to 2017.
 
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Thomas Hilde at University of Maryland for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
DISCLAIMER: The findings and conclusions published herein are solely attributed to the author and not necessarily endorsed or adopted by the Journal of Science Policy and Governance or issue partners/sponsors. Articles are distributed in compliance with copyright and trademark agreements.

ISSN 2372-2193
© 2022 Journal of Science Policy & Governance, Inc. All rights reserved. The opinions, findings and conclusions from JSPG publications, additional article commentaries and related events do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal.