Latin American and Caribbean Forests in the 2020s: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

This monograph presents expert assessments of four different facets of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) forests at the start of the 2020s. In Chapter 1, Dan Nepstad and coauthors distill lessons from case studies of the application of various approaches to forest conservation and restoration in four countries: Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru. In Chapter 2, Carlos Nobre and coauthors examine the two-way links between forests and climate change. They summarize what we know about the effects of climate change on forests and human migration in LAC, and the effects of forest loss and degradation on global and regional climate change. In addition, they present case studies of some of these links for Brazil and Costa Rica. In Chapter 3, Brent Sohngen explores LAC forest management, including LAC trends in international trade in timber and bioenergy, sustainable forest management, nontimber forest products, illegal logging, property rights, and climate change as it affects managed forests. In addition, Dr. Sohngen summarizes an original analysis of future timber supply potential using the Global Timber Model. Finally, in Chapter 4, Simone Bauch presents an analysis of the IADBGs experience with forest projects over the past 13 years. Having reviewed IADBG documents on all 99 forest projects approved by bank during this period and interviewed 23 current and former bank staff, Dr. Bauch presents a brief recent history of IADBG forest projects, an overview of the major determinants of project development, and an analysis of trends in forest projects, including their number, funding, objectives, themes, and locations. An Introduction by the editor, Allen Blackman, discusses the broad issues these expert assessment address and summarizes their key findings.