Large Portfolio

Marion Karmann, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Third-party forest management (FM) certification emerged in the 1990s as a tool for assessing and communicating the environmental and social performance of forest operations. The Forest Steward­ship Council (FSC) developed in multi-stakeholder processes standards for responsibly managed forests. The nationally adapted standards are widely accepted as being consistent with the principles of good FM. The FSC logo is a powerful incentive for forest managers to improve FM continuously. As of September 2011, FSC has certified more than 1.060 FM companies (with 140 million hectares) in 79 countries. In conducting forest audits, FSC-accredited certification companies do... Read More ››

Karine Belna, Paris Institute of Technology for life, food and environmental sciences (AgroParisTech) Today, conservation of tropical forests is at the core of a number of policies and programs emerging in the frame­work of the climate change negotiations for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. Such initiatives are capturing most of the funding devoted to forest conservation (Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 2009), and strongly influence the future of tropi­cal forests. For these reasons, assessing their effec­tiveness from an environmental perspective is a critical issue. However this evaluation remains complex as it raises burning methodological issues related... Read More ››

Sara Ochelen, Department of Environment, Nature and Energy of the Flemish government (LNE) Ex ante evaluation of new infrastructure projects often relies on cost benefit analysis. Such infrastruc­ture, like a new road or a new dock in a seaport, can have a significant impact on ecosystems and the services they deliver. To facili­tate the integration of this impact in the project evaluation, we want to quantify and to express it in monetary terms, the same unit as the other elements of a cost benefit analysis. With this purpose, the Flemish government commis­sioned a study to quantify and value the... Read More ››