The need for carbon finance schemes to tackle overexploitation of tropical forest wildlife

Defaunation of tropical forests, particularly from unsustainable hunting, has diminished populations of key seed dispersers for many tree species, driving shifts in forest community composition toward small-fruited or wind-dispersed trees with low wood density. Such shifts can reduce aboveground biomass, prompting calls for overexploitation to be included in bioeconomic policy, but a synthesis of existing literature for wildlife impacts on carbon stores is lacking. We evaluated the role of wildlife in tropical forest tree recruitment and found that it was critical to tropical forest carbon dynamics. The emerging financial value of ecosystem services provided by tropical forest fauna highlights the need for carbon-based payments for ecosystem services schemes to include wildlife protection. We argue for three cost-effective actions within carbon finance schemes that can facilitate wildlife protection: support land security opportunities for Indigenous peoples and local communities; provide support for local people to protect forest fauna from overexploitation; and focus on natural regeneration in restoration projects. Incorporating defaunation in carbon-financing schemes more broadly requires an increased duration of carbon projects and an improved understanding of defaunation impacts on carbon stores and ecosystem-level models. Without urgent action to halt wildlife losses and prevent empty forest syndrome, the crucial role of tropical forests in tackling climate change may be in jeopardy.