The economic values of primary tropical forests are global significant. Avoiding their loss and degradation is critical to meeting global climate, biodiversity, and social development goals.
Research field: Ecosystem integrity
Forests around the world are under immense pressure from human land use and climate change, however vastly improved remote sensing techniques can help identify where forests are under greatest stress from a wide range of human-caused and climate risks.
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.
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.
Project Director and Director of the Griffith Climate Action Beacon at Griffith University, contributing to community planning and engagement in forest projects.