Doris Duke Foundation seeks to catalyze a transformative forest protection, reforestation and stewardship effort across the United States that puts the country on a trajectory to fully implement forest natural climate solutions by 2050.
Why Forests?
Natural climate solutions are essential for achieving national and state greenhouse gas emission reduction. Research shows that the potential net carbon sink from U.S. land—currently offsetting about 12% of annual emissions—could be nearly doubled. Forests are central to achieving this ambition. They are the nation’s largest contributor to carbon sequestration and offer the greatest opportunity to increase carbon storage and reduce emissions.
More Than Just Carbon
Forests are more than just an essential climate solution. They are also critical for conserving some of the country’s most at-risk species and habitats, maintaining landscape connectivity and providing a range of social, environmental and economic benefits—from improved air and water quality to wildfire and flood risk reduction, support for rural economies, recreational opportunities, and cultural and spiritual sustenance. Meeting conservation goals like 30x30, which aims to protect 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, depends on protecting and restoring more forests than ever before.
Our Approach
DDF aims to unlock forests’ contribution to addressing climate change and biodiversity loss in the United States through pathways that include reforestation and accelerated protection and climate-adapted stewardship of existing forests. We particularly focus on supporting the following areas of work:
- Mobilizing the forest sector to address the challenge and opportunity of scaling forest climate solutions.
- Policy and program frameworks that enable federal and state governments to pursue ambious climate goals and provide incentive natural climate solutions.
- Science, standards and synthesis that underpin the design of effective forest policy, programs, and implementation.
