Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change
A lecture by
Dr. Jonah Busch
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Visiting Scientist, UC Center for Effective Global Action
Part of the
2017 FERAL* Lecture Series
Lecture is open to the public and no registration is required
Sponsored by the California Fire Science Consortium and the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region Ecology Program
Date and time: March 7, 2017; 10:00-11:00 AM
Location: Room 3001, Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) Building,
University of California-Davis
*Forest Ecology Random Lectures
Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting sustainable 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 to reverse tropical deforestation. In their new book Why Forests? Why Now? Frances Seymour and Jonah Busch synthesize the latest research 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. They make the case to decision-makers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.
Bio: Dr. Jonah Busch is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development and a Visiting Scientist at the University of California Center for Effective Global Action. He is an environmental economist whose research focuses on climate change and tropical deforestation. He is the co-author of Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change. Busch is the lead developer of the OSIRIS model for analyzing and designing policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation. His publications have appeared in academic journals including Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Land Economics, and Environmental Research Letters. He serves on the editorial board of Conservation Letters. Busch has advised on climate and forests for the President of Guyana, the Government of Indonesia, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, and other governments and institutions. He holds a PhD in Economics and Environmental Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
