Y Conservation and Climate Change in Latin America Anthony Hall London School of Economics and Political Science

Deforestation in Latin America, especially in the Amazon basin, is a major source of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that contribute to global warming. Protected areas play a vital role in minimizing forest loss and in supplying key environmental services, including carbon sequestration and rainfall regulation, which mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change amid a rising tide of economic development in the region. The area of protected forest has expanded rapidly since 1980 to cover one-! fth of Latin America and more than two-! fths of Amazonia, a region whose rain forest captures some 40 percent of Latin America’s carbon emissions. The reserve sector has traditionally suffered from severe underfunding, but the possibility of new resources being generated through ! nancial compensation for “reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation” (REDD) or “avoided deforestation” under a new Kyoto protocol after 2012 could help strengthen the environmental and social roles of protected areas. However, a number of major implementation and governance challenges will need to be addressed. TROPICAL FORESTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES The importance of preserving natural resources for societal bene! t has long been recognized. Modern concern for nature conservation emerged in the nineteenth century in Europe; the United States; and in British colonies in southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand with the establishment of nature reserves and national parks (Adams 2008). From being considered primarily the guardians of scenic beauty and as a source of leisure, protected areas are now also recognized as major suppliers of ecosystem services. These have been classi! ed into four major categories: supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural services (World Wildlife Fund [WWF] 2009; Ferraro and Kiss 2002; Daily 1997). Basic supporting services involve biodiversity conservation, soil formation, and water cycling. Regulating services relate to climate, hydrology, nutrient retention, carbon sequestration, and ! re control, among others. Provisioning involves the supply of timber and nontimber forest products; cultural services embrace nonuse values, as well as landscape beauty for recreation and tourism purposes. Although these services are all ultimately linked and interdependent, in the ! ght against global warming, carbon sequestration is particularly critical in Thanks are due to the London School of Economics and to the British Academy for ! nancial support that made this research possible. The author is grateful to Marianne Schmink, the late Sandy Davis, and two anonymous LARR reviewers for valuable comments on an earlier version of this article. P5560.indb 184 9/27/11 11:06:13 AM