Forests are more than carbon

Due to their ability to absorb and to store away huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forests have become a popular issue during the last five years. It is hoped that a future mechanism called "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) will save the climate while at the same time saving the world's forests and their biodiversity. biocarbon consult has actively taken part in the debate ever since its inception.

With its network of experts on climate change, lan use, forestry and biodiversity, biocarbon consult is considered a think tank on all relevant aspects of landscape carbon. Unfortunately, in real life, all forest climate mitigation projects have so far not been able to regrow the timber that was wasted in academic and policy papers about carbon forestry. The reason is that forests are living organisms inserted in social, economic, geological and climatic context. As no forest is like the other, policymakers have not been able to find once-size-fits-all solutions to methodological challenges.

biocarbon consult's experts always link back to the actual practice of land use. Their expertise comes es much from international negotiations and academic research, as from project planning and implementation. One of the major achievements of the company has been the establishment of an independent Global Conservation Standard, which looks at land use in a holistic way and starts protecting natural landscapes with the direct involvement of communities, all financed or co-financed by the private sector. Nowadays, biocarbon consult no longer represents the GCS, but it contributes to conservation projects as a service provider.

Land use is more than forests, and forests are more than just carbon. Natural landscapes provide livelihoods. Instead of preaching scarcity, let's appreciate the abundance well-managed natural systems have to offer.