USAID’s Biodiversity and Forestry Team hosts "extended team meetings" open to anyone with a professional interest in forestry and biodiversity conservation. This tradition has evolved into a Fall and Spring seminar series. At each seminar, a speaker (or speakers) presents an issue of interest, followed by a question and answer session. Seminars focus on broader topics that are thematic or technical in nature, rather than specific projects supported by USAID.
Meetings are held on the second Wednesdays of February, March, April, May, October, November, and December from 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm, unless otherwise noted, in the USAID Information Center, located on the mezzanine of the Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC.
The seminar series is on summer hiatus. We will be back with new and exciting speakers this fall!
Recent Events:
June 16, 2010: 1.30-3:00pm Tropical Land Use Change and Soil Carbon: Implications for REDD Presentation by Dr. Erika Marin-Spiotta, University of Wisconsin
Soils contain two to three times more carbon than is found in above ground biomass and in the atmosphere. The release of soil carbon due to tropical deforestation and/or land use change is a major source of greenhouse gases contributing to global climate change, after fossil fuel emissions. Thus, understanding how soils respond to land use is important for evaluating the success of carbon sequestration projects. This talk will present results from field research and an analysis of published data from across the tropics to help predict the fate of soil carbon pools during different land use conversions. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of different factors, specifically soil type, climate, method of land conversion, vegetation type, land use intensity, and time since conversion, on the response of soil carbon, particularly during reforestation.
*For the months of April, May and June, the USAID Biodiversity and Forestry seminar series is partnering with the TRANSLINKS program and its partners to bring you cutting-edge speakers.
http://www.translinks.org/
June 9, 2010: 1.30-3:00pm Biological Diversity and Climate Change - Twins Separated at Birth Presentation by Dr. Shahid Naeem, Columbia University
Both the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate change were born in Rio at Earth Summit I in 1992 – sustainable development cannot be achieved in the absence of either. Climate change policy struggles because it is tied to industrial (fossil fuels) and agricultural development (deforestation, biofuels, etc.) while biodiversity struggles because it is tied to genetic resources. Yet, biodiversity is critical to climate change mitigation and adaptation and its conservation should be mainstreamed into climate change policy (and climate change be mainstreamed into biodiversity conservation policy). In this presentation, the speaker discussed the case for integrating biodiversity conservation into climate change policy/actions, reviewing the scientific evidence for its potential as mitigation and adaptation.
May 12, 2010: 1.30-3:00pm Conservation Certification and Product Branding - The Case of Wildlife Friendly Certification
Certifications and specialized branding have exploded in the markets, but are they a potential asset to conservation and poverty reduction efforts or yet another cost and barrier to entry for poor producers protecting high biodiversity areas? Presenting the case of Wildlife Friendly Certification and drawing on lessons from multiple certification programs and marketing trends for conservation and fair trade products an expert panel of conservation and marketing specialists will explore this question. Certified Wildlife Friendly® enterprises from Asia, Africa and Latin America and the mechanisms of the certification program will be presented. Certified Wildlife Friendly® is the first certification that conserves threatened wildlife and their habitats while contributing to the economic vitality of rural communities. A panel discussion will be led by Ann Koontz, Relief International - Enterprise Works/VITA which includes Dr. Helen Crowley, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS); Steven Dupuis, Founder of the Dupuis Group (a private sector company specializing in branding, packaging, design and marketing solutions); and the Eco-labels research of Dr. Adrian Treves and Stephanie Michelle Jones, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Land Tenure Center.
A video of this presentation can be found under the Tools and Resources tab.
April 14, 2010: 1.30-3:00pm Land Tenure Issues for Carbon Offset and PES Projects- Lessons from Africa and Latin America
Speakers: Dr. Lisa Naughton and Dr. Matthew Turner, Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin in Madison
Land ownership and resource access is fundamentally important for Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Drawing from lessons learned from decades of previous efforts to title and secure land, this discussion will demonstrate the possibilities for yielding positive social outcomes from titling and securing land rights, while noting the associated costs and risks.
March 10, 2010: 1.30-3:00pm A World of Potential - Making Forest Landscape Restoration a Force of Change
Speakers: Lars Laestadius, Senior Associate with the People & Ecosystems Program, World Resources Institute; and Jerilyn Levi, Assistant Director of International Programs for Policy, US Forest Service
In the space of a few centuries, humankind has removed more than half of Earth's original forest cover. Every year, a further area the size of Greece is lost. However, a recent study estimates that there are a billion hectares of forests around the world with potential for forest landscape restoration. Restoring forests to some of these lands could be achieved without prejudicing other vital land uses, such as food production.
Degraded forests have become landscapes of opportunity, and the scale of this opportunity is immense. Preliminary analysis indicates that by 2030 the restoration of degraded forest lands could make the same contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases as that which could be expected from avoided deforestation and perhaps as much as twice that amount.
The Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration brings together a range of organizations from the public, private and voluntary sectors around the world to work together to encourage and facilitate the restoration of forest landscapes.
http://www.ideastransformlandscapes.org/
December 3, 2009 Supporting species conservation in highly challenging environments: Evaluating US Fish and Wildlife Service's Great Apes Conservation Fund
US Fish and Wildlife Service with evaluators Gary Tabor and Fred Sowers
Our closest relatives, Great Apes-chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans-are among the most threatened species on earth. For nine years, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has supported Great Ape conservation through its grant fund, working with partners in some of the most conflict-prone areas on earth, such as eastern DR Congo. This year the FWS in collaboration with USAID undertook a comprehensive evaluation of its Great Ape program in the Congo Basin, including visits to 11 field sites. Findings from that evaluation will be presented as well as an overview of the program's successes and challenges. We will then have a chance to discuss with FWS staff and the evaluators ways to support and improve Great Ape conservation.
http://www.fws.gov/international/
Presentations and resources from previous events of this seminar series can be found in the Tools and Resources tab.