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Vincent Gauci and The Open University (OU) Ecosystems Research Group have demonstrated human influences over exchanges of carbon within vulnerable, temperate and tropical wetland ecosystems, which are the largest source of the powerful greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere. The group's work showing that acid rain pollution suppresses methane emissions from wetlands has influenced policy in the UK, particularly peatland restoration, where the group has had direct interaction with users. The group's work on carbon balance resulting from deforestation, drainage and fires in the carbon-rich Bornean peat swamp has also informed IPCC methodologies for carbon balance calculations in its 2013 Wetlands Supplement.
Research at the University of Exeter on the links between the Amazon rainforest and climate change has influenced international climate policy, has directly assisted Brazilian environmental policymakers, and has received international media coverage. The underpinning research spans the vulnerability of the rainforest to anthropogenic climate change and the mechanisms behind the Amazonian droughts of 2005 and 2010. Impact has been achieved by stimulating public debate through the media, by contribution to science-into-policy documents produced by the World Bank and for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and by direct face-to-face interaction with UK and Brazilian policymakers.
Impacts: I) Economic benefits derived from carbon credit and land-use schemes in sub-Saharan Africa. II) Multi-national developments in public-policy related to Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). III) Recommendation for launch by the European Space Agency (March 2013) of the first ever forest-specific monitoring mission.
Significance and reach: Public policy developments have occurred over the period 2011 - June 2013 in Malawi, Mozambique and Gabon. Increases of more than 20% in the level of rural employment pre and post 2008 have been documented for one project in Mozambique.
Underpinned by: Research into quantifying tropical forest biomass stocks and their degradation, undertaken at the University of Edinburgh (2004 onwards).
We conducted research on the impact of land-use change that has resulted in international action to improve forest management. Our research demonstrated that clearing forests to grow crops for biofuels leads to large carbon emissions. In light of these findings, the UK Government amended its biofuel policy to include mandatory sustainability criteria. Leeds researchers co-established with a number of businesses the charity United Bank of Carbon, resulting in the investment of £1.5 million and the protection of 200,000 hectares of forest. Our research underpinned a forest-based climate mitigation scheme resulting in the investment of an additional £440k in forest protection.
Research led by the School of Geography at the University of Leeds has enabled, for the first time, the use of on-the-ground observations to evaluate directly the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle and to assess their sensitivity to change. Findings from the research have had a significant impact on international debates on the future trajectory of climate change and appropriate policy responses, and are influencing national-scale efforts across the tropics to manage forests in the face of climate change and to reduce carbon emissions resulting from deforestation [D, E, G, H, J]. The success of this Leeds-led initiative has been achieved through the extensive network of scientists involved in this global forest observatory: more than 250 scientists from over 50 institutions across more than 30 countries are now involved.
In the REF impact period, our research on carbon-rich tropical peat swamp forests in Indonesia has been used to:
Our research has impacted on UK and international policy on peatland/wetland conservation and restoration for climate change mitigation and water purification, by showing how peatlands function as a major global carbon sink and regulator of climate and water quality. Additionally, our discovery that peatland carbon release, from local to global scales, is controlled by a single enzyme system has provided a tool to prevent carbon loss from degraded peat. Our new methods have been implemented in peatland restoration projects by UK agencies and NGOs, benefiting carbon storage, biodiversity and landscapes; raising public awareness and improving UK water industry management leading to better water quality.
Impacts: I) Development of carbon credit certification schemes, including the expansion by the Gold Standard Foundation into land-use and forestry and the creation of the Natural Forest Standard by Ecometrica Ltd (both in 2012). II) Enhanced cross-sector collaboration for the quantification of forest-loss risks and implications for financing risks, through the 2011 creation of a Forest Finance Risk Network (FFRN).
Significance and reach: The Gold Standard Foundation represents nine forestry projects worldwide (benefiting >8,500 people) and over 1.8million ha. of Brazilian land is managed through two Natural Forest Standard projects. The FFRN connects 80 member organizations globally.
Underpinned by: Research into carbon emissions associated with forest-loss, undertaken at the University of Edinburgh (2005 onwards).
The UN Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme offers developing countries incentives to reduce carbon emissions from forested lands. Work on carbon storage and sequestration led by researchers in the Department of Zoology has had demonstrable impacts on international development, via the REDD+ programme and two associated UN Conventions; Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Biodiversity (UN CBD), and on national level policy development in Tanzania and Brazil. It has improved the quality of data collection and monitoring necessary for successful implementation of REDD+, and has led to international investment. The work has also had direct impacts in a number of developing countries, through capacity building, employment generation, and enabling local communities to better adapt to climate change.
Since 2005 there has been a surge of interest in reducing tropical deforestation as a means of mitigating global climate change, as well as enhancing the protection of tropical biodiversity and contributing to sustainable rural development. Ways of achieving this include the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC), and also non-governmental ("voluntary") forest carbon sequestration projects being established across the tropics. The Ecosystems Group, led by Malhi, in the Oxford School of Geography and the Environment, has been actively engaged in natural science and policy/governance research directions, all of which have had impacts on both REDD+ and voluntary forest carbon sequestration projects. The group's natural science research has developed scientific methodologies for measuring tropical forest biomass, through in situ plots and satellite imagery, and they have been actively involved in establishing pilot REDD+ projects in several countries. On the policy and governance side, the Forest Governance Group, created in 2009, has played a key role in establishing global databases on the effectiveness of protected areas in conserving forests, provided international comparative analyses of forest policies outside protected areas, and actively engaged in global, regional and local REDD+ policy-making fora.