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Why Forests? Why Now?: The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change Paperback – December 31, 2015
Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time―averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation.
Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.
- Print length250 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCenter for Global Development
- Publication dateDecember 31, 2015
- Dimensions8 x 0.7 x 10 inches
- ISBN-109781933286853
- ISBN-13978-1933286853
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Alec Baldwin, Actor and international advocate for forests and indigenous peoples
International cooperation to protect forests is urgent, affordable, and feasible. . . . Why Forests? Why Now? should be mandatory reading for people who already care deeply about tropical forests, as well as for those who remain not yet convinced.”
Lord Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics and President of the British Academy
Seymour and Busch make a compelling argument that rich countries should reward developing countries for their success in slowing deforestation. . . . It is a clear and sound application of the Cash-on-Delivery’ approach to international cooperation promoted by . . . the Center for Global Development.”
Praise for Why Forests? Why Now?
Anyone who cares about climate change or sustainable development should read this book.
Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme; former Chair OECD Development Assistance Committee
Seymour and Busch show how international support for efforts to stop deforestation can advance transparency and accountability, resulting in a triple win for sustainable development, climate stability, and good governance.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Minister of Finance, Nigeria
Why Forests? Why Now? provides a welcome source of optimism that deforestation can be tackled through complementary public and private sector action.
Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
Seymour and Busch highlight an important achievement of global climate negotiationsagreement on cooperation to reduce tropical deforestationand suggest an effective path for the realization of this goal.
Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
About the Author
Frances Seymour is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and a senior adviser to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In 2014 France named her Officer of the Order of Agricultural Merit.
Jonah Busch is a research fellow at the Center for Global Development. He is the lead developer of the OSIRIS suite of open-source software tools for mapping the benefits and costs of alternative policy decisions for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).
Product details
- ASIN : 1933286857
- Publisher : Center for Global Development (December 31, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 250 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781933286853
- ISBN-13 : 978-1933286853
- Item Weight : 2.81 pounds
- Dimensions : 8 x 0.7 x 10 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,464,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #284 in Forests & Rainforests
- #484 in Forests & Forestry (Books)
- #992 in Development & Growth Economics (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Dr. Jonah Busch is an environmental economist who researches climate change and tropical deforestation. He is the Chief Economist at Earth Innovation Institute.
Busch has published more than thirty scientific articles and is the co-author of the book Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change. He has advised on the design of climate and forest finance mechanisms for numerous governments and institutions including the President of Guyana, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. He serves on the editorial board of Conservation Letters.
Busch has been a Lecturer (Adjunct Professor) at Columbia University; Visiting Scholar at Zhejiang University and University of California, Berkeley; Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development; Climate and Forest Economist at Conservation International; and a high school math teacher in the Peace Corps (Burkina Faso, ‘00-‘02).
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The evidence for climate change has already arrived and there is clearly an irreversible component in its trajectory as evidenced by unprecedented hurricanes, flooding, erosion and fires. We have been told the time to act is now and the opportunity is time sensitive. Seymour's book explains why eloquently.
In fact, with respect to the science of forestry, its importance and politics, there is no better comprehensive assessment and reference.
The ecology and economics are not simple. Seymour discusses science in plain language and uses contemporary examples as well as appropriate historical precedent. The book relates a people's history of select world communities. What happened in North East Brazil made for a fascinating read in itself (Chapter 7). The text in that way is both accessible and remarkable for informational content, holding even greater import in the context of current political drama. This is a global ecology textbook for the people and should satisfy both scholar and layman. It imparts a clear urgent message: We need to get up off our couch.
