Woods Hole Research Center

BANTER: The Brazilian Amazon Negotiation Toolbox for the Economics of REDD:

Brazil is leading the way in adopting policies to reduce deforestation and taking on ambitious reduction targets. A central element of a strategy to reduce deforestation is understanding the distribution, at the sub-national level, of benefits and costs of REDD policies. Quantitative economic analysis can provide useful insights on the effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness of REDD strategies. The Brazilian Amazon Negotiation Toolbox for the Economics of REDD (BANTER) is a spreadsheet-based economic tool that helps examine the economic and environmental effects in the Brazilian Amazon of different REDD mechanism designs. BANTER is designed to support REDD negotiations among states in the Brazilian Amazon by allowing users to compare emissions reductions, avoided deforestation and revenue generation at the state level across proposed REDD design options.

Bridging Science to International Climate Policy under the UNFCCC:

A central component of the mission of the Woods Hole Research Center is informing environmental decision-makers and stakeholders with sound scientific research and data regarding key environmental issues. Center staff have been involved in international discussions about climate change since its inception and were responsible for organizing international meetings on climate change as early as 1987. The Center is committed to working with collaborators, other non-profit institutions and research organizations, governments, and other stakeholders to forward international climate change negotiations through the United Nations process.