Rainforest nations want to earn carbon credits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), but to do so they have to prove that forest destruction halted in one part of the country doesn’t just move to another part. The Brazilian state of Acre is experimenting with a “nested approach” that links individual projects with the state’s evolving strategy.

What benefits would U.S. forest carbon participants derive from the adaptation and implementation of finance and insurance standards? In addition,  what is being discussed with regards to compliance standards in Washington, DC?  A recent webinar hosted by 2degrees explores these issues more thoroughly than any forum to date.

Markets are supposed to be about cold, hard logic; but any salesman can tell you they are more often about scent, texture, heart, and soul.  A traveling exhibition of dead trees from the Ghanaian rainforest, on their way this month to Oxford, England, is helping people understand the majesty of these threatened giants – and, in the process, drumming up support for schemes that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by saving trees.

As international policy frameworks and pledges of billions of dollars move REDD+ forward, many observers remain concerned over how to ensure the lofty promises being made for global forest conservation will actually provide broader social and environmental benefits. The issue of safeguards took center stage this week in Washington, DC through a day-long forum of REDD+ policymakers, practitioners, and observers.