Avoided Forest Conversion as a Climate and Conservation Opportunity in the United States

Avoiding forest conversion contributes to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, with substantial benefits to wildlife and human sustainability. This project aims to support measurable positive impacts by identifying and mapping hotspots of deforestation (forest conversion), linking these hotspots to drivers of land use change, developing a forest loss tracking interface, and examining the efficacy of different kinds of measures being taken to avoid forest conversion. Specifically, the work will develop robust methodologies for measuring, monitoring, and calculating avoided forest conversion impacts and related carbon emissions.