Heather's project publications
Policy brief: Ecosystem integrity maximises climate mitigation and minimises risk in international forest policy
The ecological, social and economic values of forests are widely known and avoiding their loss and degradation has been recognized in national and international policy as critical for helping address the many global problems we face.
Policy brief: Carbon accounting improvements for operationalising the Glasgow Climate Pact
The need for integrated policy action to mitigate climate change and conserve biodiversity has now been recognised in Article 38 of the Glasgow Climate Pact. This emphasises the importance of protecting, conserving and restoring nature and ecosystems, including forests and other terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
Using ecosystem integrity to maximise climate mitigation and minimise risk in international forest policy
Rules and guidelines that treat forests equally in key international policy frameworks regardless of their risk profiles limit their effectiveness and can facilitate forest degradation. Here we assess the potential for using a framework of ecosystem integrity to guide policy goals.
Policy brief: Burning forests for energy is not a source clean energy
The recent shift towards using forest biomass burning for energy comes with grave risks of highly perverse outcomes, including increased CO2 emissions and negative impacts on forest ecosystem integrity.
Burning forest biomass for energy is a climate own goal
Data from Europe shows that there has been a major increase in the intensification of logging in Europe over the past five to seven years and this could prevent many European nations reaching their emissions reduction targets under the Paris and Glasgow agreements. The same process is now being pushed heavily by certain forest industry lobbyists and government agencies in several Australian states, including Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.
Mature and old-growth forests contribute to large-scale conservation targets in the United States
Mature and old-growth forests of the United States collectively support exceptional levels of biodiversity but have declined substantially from logging and development.
Estimating carbon stocks and changes in British Columbia’s forests
British Columbia contains under-appreciated carbon stocks, which if protected, can help Canada meet its climate and conservation targets, but only if there are major forestry reforms to protect carbon-dense old-growth forests.
Natural disturbance impacts on trade-offs and co-benefits of forest biodiversity and carbon
Historical forest disturbance have an impact on forest ecosystem co-benefits and trade-offs. Accounting for long-term variations of past disturbances can improve policies aimed at mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss.
Policy brief: Reforming carbon accounting to support of nature-based solutions
Nature-based solutions provide opportunities for climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and ameliorating environmental degradation. But those opportunities are not materialising as current carbon accounting is deficient for use in evaluating them.
Primary forests are being undervalued in the climate emergency
The world's contain irreplaceable biodiversity and are critical to the regulation of the global climate and maintaining stable carbon pools. Carbon-dense primary forests are found in every major forest biome and they typically support higher levels of biodiversity than logged forests, especially imperiled and endemic species, yet their value is not fully recognised in climate policy.