A new investigation from the BBC Panorama series (2nd May on BBC 1) explores how green claims often depend on questionable forest carbon credits which research claims are ‘worthless’. The programme features Professor in Conservation Science, Julia Jones discussing her research about how well these credits (which aim to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation) are working.
Julia, who was invited to participate as an expert in this field, said “My research focuses on better understanding the impact of conservation. I was interviewed for Panorama because of the research I have done, with colleagues at the University of Cambridge, to estimate how much deforestation would have happened at 40 odd sites across the tropics without the investment which came through the purchase of carbon credits on the voluntary carbon market”.
This research is getting a lot of attention in the light of a very high profile study which shows that many projects have sold more carbon credits than can be justified by the amount of deforestation they have avoided.”
Julia is keen to stress that failures with the way carbon credits from avoided deforestation are currently issued should not distract from the importance of slowing the loss of tropical forests.
“It is almost impossible to overemphasize how important it is to the future of our planet to stop the loss of tropical forests. Tropical forests and their soils lock up a huge amount of carbon. Improving the market for forest carbon credits is a priority given it will likely continue to play a part in financing tropical forest conservation in the short to medium term. However there are of course real issues with tying conservation of forests to ongoing emissions. We need to both slow fossil fuel emissions and conserve forests. Paying for one, using the other is not ideal.”
To read more about Julia’s views on this issue in general, click The Conservation and to view the Panorama programme watch here