Incentives for Forests and Land Use

Tara O'Shea is Senior Director of Forests & Land Use at Planet Labs. In conversation with Matthew Monahan.

• Planet Labs: https://planet.com/

• Tara's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tfoshea

TOPICS

• 00:00 Intro

• 02:33 Tara’s background

• 07:13 Decoupling economic growth from overshoot

• 10:52 Ecosystem services

• 13:00 Protecting forests

• 15:19 Applying a justice lens

• 25:28 Pros and cons of REDD+

• 43:20 Direct payment models

• 44:59 Are we too focused on carbon?

• 46:10 Challenges with NZ emissions trading scheme

• 52:12 Concerns about reforestation projects

• 58:25 Needing better data

• 01:02:38 Connecting data to finance

• 01:05:08 Planet’s data products

• 01:09:09 Intersection of Web3

RESOURCES

• What is REDD+: https://unfccc.int/topics/land-use/workstreams/redd/what-is-redd

• Kuznets Curve: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/environmental-kuznets-curve

• Why Forests? Why Now? book: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Forests-Now-Economics-Politics/dp/1933286857

• Verra: https://verra.org/

• Critique of Verra's credits in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/revealed-forest-carbon-offsets-biggest-provider-worthless-verra-aoe

This interview took place during Eco-Weaving 2023.