Frances Seymour

The rate of tropical deforestation has remained stubbornly persistent for decades despite various international efforts to slow it. Yet halting and reversing tropical forest loss is an essential and urgent element of mitigating and adapting to global climate change. More than 15 years after the idea of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) was introduced into UNFCCC negotiations, large-scale demand for forest carbon credits from developing countries is finally in prospect, reigniting controversies over the environmental and social integrity of such credits. In this presentation, Frances will situate carbon market finance in the broader suite of strategies to end tropical deforestation, identify challenges and controversies specific to tropical forest carbon crediting, and describe current initiatives designed to address them.

Speaker Biography

Frances Seymour is an expert on tropical forests and climate change.  She currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute, US State Department Science Envoy, and Chair of the Board of the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions. She is the lead author of the book, Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change. Seymour has lived and worked in Indonesia for a total of 11 years, including six years as Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) from 2006 to 2012, for which she was awarded France’s Order of Agricultural Merit for her leadership on forests and climate change research. She holds an M.P.A. from Princeton University and a B.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill.