This seminar is hosted by the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests

Speaker: Ms Gillian Petrokofsky, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford

Abstract: With global carbon credits valued at over US$100 billion/year, accounting under REDD will drive demand for high quality forest monitoring systems. The choice of system to adopt should be guided by good science. There is a growing body of scientific and technical information on ground-based and remote sensing methods of carbon measurement. The adequacy and comparability of different national systems for forest carbon measurement under REDD have not been fully evaluated.

An international participatory initiative was established in 2009 to analyse the relevant literature systematically using an evidence-based framework of the type widely regarded in medicine as the gold standard for evidence evaluation. Preliminary findings indicate that, despite the rhetoric, evidence-based forestry is not yet a reality. In addition to providing robust analysis of the literature, the process of conducting a systematic review as a multidisciplinary participatory exercise is in itself a useful way of highlighting gaps in understanding, assumptions that may not have been subjected to rigorous review, and differences in approaches between disciplines. To the extent that good governance relies on access to good information, systematic reviews could play an important role in the transparent analysis of complex and often contradictory science, which can generate benefits for decision-making. An international participatory initiative was established in 2009 to analyse the relevant literature systematically using an evidence-based framework of the type widely regarded in medicine as the gold standard for evidence evaluation. Preliminary findings indicate that, despite the rhetoric, evidence-based forestry is not yet a reality. In addition to providing robust analysis of the literature, the process of conducting a systematic review as a multidisciplinary participatory exercise is in itself a useful way of highlighting gaps in understanding, assumptions that may not have been subjected to rigorous review, and differences in approaches between disciplines. To the extent that good governance relies on access to good information, systematic reviews could play an important role in the transparent analysis of complex and often contradictory science, which can generate benefits for decision-making.

All welcome. To register please go to http://bookwhen.com/octf. Please take a moment to register to give us an indication of numbers.