Poorer rural people are not excluded from the carbon credit scheme because of their lack of formal land rights, but there are also risks to the approach, which gives state officials power to define what activities are incentivized.

The public and private sectors can incentivize sustainable land use and forest conservation. While still only one part of the solution, there are encouraging signs of new efforts to finance sustainable agribusiness.

Brazil is better positioned than any other nation to lead the pathway to the low-carbon economy. Its 7+ billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions that have been avoided through Brazil’s enormous and successful effort to slow Amazon deforestation are now poised to be monetized.

The Nature Conservancy will manage the land, known as the Cumberland Forest Project, for a decade, and will provide investors financial returns from three sources: revenue from certified sustainable timber sales, carbon offset credits and the eventual sale of the land, at the end of the period, with long-term or permanent management restrictions in place.

Only part of the land will be logged. The Forest Stewardship Council, a nonprofit group, will make sure the logging operations meet environmental and safety measures. And cutting down trees is only one way the forest can make money. Thanks to California's climate change rules, forest owners can profit from their trees' carbon-absorbing powers.

Over the past decade, First Nations have created a robust conservation economy in Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest, one of the largest old-growth temperate rainforests left in the world, through investments in sustainable development and environmental stewardship projects that link the health of nature to the wellbeing of indigenous communities, according to a new report.

Timber managers are beginning to look beyond the trees to make money on their forestland portfolios as well as to transition the asset class as an antidote to climate change.

The Nature Conservancy program, called Working Woodlands, has enrolled 92,000 acres through 13 projects in four states — Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and Michigan — since the nonprofit launched the initiative a decade ago.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is accepting proposals through July 30, 2019, for national Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). CIG projects inspire creative problem-solving that boosts production on farms, ranches, and private forests — ultimately, they improve water quality, soil health, and wildlife habitat. All U.S.-based non-federal entities and individuals are eligible to apply.