Resources & Insights
What COP 26 means for forest landscapes in the tropics
You’ve probably been inundated with news from COP26, which just wrapped up over the weekend. I couldn’t keep up with the commitments, pledges, announcements, protests, and so on that happened in Glasgow over the past couple of weeks. Though aware...
The most important factors for long-term sustainable forest carbon strategies
In the tropical geographies I work in, I see a variety of forest carbon strategies being developed by net-zero investors. There are strategies that focus on conservation of existing, rare, and intact forest landscapes. There are strategies that promote the uptake...
Why Greenpeace isn’t thinking green, and nature needs offsets
In this article I explain the 5 key reasons why carbon offsets are not just important for resolving climate change, but for nature and sustainable development in general.
Orange shirts and indigenous rights
In honour of Canada’s first National day of Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th 2021, I wanted to write today about various approaches to ensure that indigenous rights are respected in executing a responsible forest investment strategy in the tropics.
SDG impact catalogue for forest investments in the tropics
This article focuses on the UN's SDGs (relevant to impact investment in the tropics), and the various approaches you could take to make your investments more impactful and how to do this in a practical and credible way.
Seeing the forest for the trees – Why I don’t like the term ‘Timberland’ investment
I don’t like the term 'timberland investment'. The expression signifies a position entrenched in detail (the trees) to the point of not being able to see the larger picture. This article considers some of the other values that exist in a forest that may be compromised when the focus is only on timber maximisation.
The secret to financing early-stage forest investments in the tropics
In this article, I provide a bit of background on the urgency of tropical forest landscape restoration and identify some structural challenges in the investor universe for the forest investment lifecycle, and how these can be overcome, highlighting some good examples.
I’m on a mission – help me attract new impact investors to forest investments in the tropics!
I need your help, so does the climate, biodiversity, forest-dependent communities, and ultimately, your children. Please take this short survey so that I can provide the most relevant information, experts and resources to you and new impact investors to forest investments in the tropics.
The main risks of forest carbon strategies in the tropics, and how to mitigate them
This article looks at the main risks behind forest carbon strategies in the tropics, which are largely steering corporate forest carbon decisions, and how these can be mitigated.
5 reasons why moving to Italy is like investing in forests in the tropics
In this piece I draw parallels from my personal life, as I liken a move to Italy with investing in forests in the tropics.
Building a winning forest impact investment strategy: Part 5 – MRV, What gets measured gets done!
As the old adage goes, What gets measured gets done! And this definitely holds for impact forest investments in the tropics. In this fifth and final part of The ForestLink’s Building a winning forest impact investment strategy series, I discuss why you need to be strategic in how you measure, report and verify impact within your investment strategy – for credibility, business growth, and risk reduction, in a way that won’t strip profit from your bottom line.
Building a winning forest impact investment strategy: Part 4 – Impact and ESG Integration
Impact investments look to create positive environmental and social benefits alongside generating a financial return. ESG investments on the other hand, assess Environmental, Social and Governance issues to ensure that they are sufficiently addressed, as to not damage the financial outcome of the investment, and have any other negative, unintended consequences. They are not one in the same, and I argue that both are needed, and both need to be addressed independently.