Mongabay: The emergence of a Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanism for protecting forests could introduce new risks for biodiversity by linking conservation finance to exotic financial derivatives, warn researchers writing in the journal Conservation Letters.Jacob Phelps, Edward L. Webb, and Lian P. Koh argue that REDD could effectively link the fate of some species to the short-term whims of the carbon market. Conservation projects funded primarily by REDD are most at risk of being undermined by declining in carbon prices or changing investor preference. The authors add that the short-term nature of REDD—which is seen as a stop gap measure of at most 30 years—may fail deliver benefits over the time-scale need to safeguard biodiversity.
"Conservation initiatives generally require long-term, stable sources of funding," they write. "Given the scale of REDD+ projects and financing, and the high expectations in some quarters that REDD+ will reform conservation finance and protect imperiled biodiversity, current and future projects tied to REDD+ financing might be exposed to significant risks."…
A hoatzin in flight in the Amazon rainforest, shot by Warren H, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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