Economics of forest restoration

About the meeting

SANDEE is initiating a research project on the ‘Economics of Forest Restoration’ in collaboration with partners from four countries in South Asia – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan. The aim is to understand the economics of forest restoration as a carbon mitigation option and its distributional impacts on gender and marginalized groups.

In this regard, SANDEE is organizing a pre-inception meeting with all partners, funding organizations, advisors, and colleagues from ICIMOD to launch the Economics of Forest Restoration research project. The meeting will also bring together the research team to discuss the common understanding on the issues, methods, and process of the proposed research.

The research project is funded by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada. Led by Mani Nepal, Programme Coordinator, SANDEE, ICIMOD, as Project Leader (Principal Investigator), the project duration is three years (February 2022–January 2025). Two SANDEE advisors, Jeff Vincent, Professor at Duke University, and François Libois, Professor at the Paris School of Economics, are also involved in the research. Research teams from the four countries will also be part of the project.

Background

The IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report unequivocally states that anthropogenic activities have accelerated global warming at an unprecedented rate. Consequently, the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves, cyclones, intense precipitation, and droughts have been increasing, affecting the lives and livelihoods of people globally. Limiting human-induced global warming requires reduction of cumulative emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. Forest restoration is expected to help limit global warming. Evidence suggests that in lower- and middle-income countries, such restoration is biophysically feasible for up to 2 billion ha of forest area. But this is not without economic and institutional challenges.

Agenda

Rapporteur: Manashree Newa, Program Associate – SANDEE, ICIMOD.