Department of Forestry Forest Carbon and Climate Program

Michigan State University, Forest Carbon and Climate Program (FCCP) is both excited and sad to announce that founder and Director, Lauren Cooper will be moving to a new role in April 2023, as Chief Conservation Officer with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). During Lauren’s tenure here, FCCP has seen steady growth and is poised to continue to thrive. While her colleagues are thrilled about this new chapter in Lauren’s career, they are also comforted to know that Lauren will continue to guide the direction of the FCCP by serving in an advisory role for the program and supporting limited project-based research. 

Lauren founded FCCP in 2014, inspired by a vision to create an accessible, highly interdisciplinary program that would connect professionals, natural resource managers, decision-makers, students, and the broader public with the value of trees, forests, and forest products in addressing climate change. 

Since then, a global community has formed around this program attracting students and professionals to the many learning, research, and engagement opportunities afforded by FCCP such as: 

• Graduate Certificate in Forest Carbon Science, Policy, and Management 
• Non-formal professional development courses such as Forest Certification and Climate Change and Understanding Forest Carbon Management (also available in Spanish) 
• Workshops and webinar series (many eligible for continuing education credits) such as the Forest + Climate Learning Exchange Series and the Forests, Carbon, and Climate of Latin America Series  (offered in Spanish) 
• Numerous grant-funded projects in collaboration with strategic partners such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, American Forests, The Nature Conservancy, Society of American Foresters, SUNY—College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, World Bank and the Forest Investment Program, US Department of Agriculture, and others 
• Engagement through meeting facilitation and event participation with partners such as the Forest-Climate Working Group, 1t.org, and others 
• Knowledge sharing through FCCP’s Open Resource Library, a repository of white papers, reports, topical overviews, instructional videos, carbon modeling resource guides, and original graphics available for free download and use with citation (many resources also available in Spanish) 

Lauren has also been involved with international forestry work in Peru through the Bosques + Gente project, partially funded by the Tinker Foundation. Peru holds the second largest share of Amazon forest and over 65% of land use decisions are made by communal landholders. As part of an ambitious target to conserve 54 million hectares of the country’s tropical forest, the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) uses the Conditional Direct Transfer (TDC in Spanish) to promote conservation in forest communities. The TDC is a Payment for Results strategy which provides funds for sustainable development alongside community-based conservation of forests in indigenous communities. This timely research will identify practical, measurable, and actionable strategies for adoption by MINAM. A main outcome will be the enabling condition criteria that MINAM and similar programs can apply and adapt, strengthening conservation interventions with indigenous communities in ways that mutually benefit forestry outcomes and indigenous wellbeing. For example, the project introduces the inclusion of gender and women’s issues as explicit focus areas for MINAM projects. The project also works with MINAM to improve TDC training materials, community engagement, monitoring tools of the program with research results. 

To name just a few of her recent achievements on the US side, Lauren has contributed heavily to work on Analyzing Safeguards for a Climate-Smart Forest Economy, served as Co-Chair to the Natural Working Lands and Forest Products Workgroup for the Michigan Council on Climate Solutions, established the Forest + Climate Visualization Partnership, and secured a major project on Climate Action and Reforestation in Northern Michigan. 

While an exhaustive list of her accomplishments would make this article very long, these highlights provide a glimpse of the enormous energy and passion Lauren Cooper has brought to FCCP, its development, and continued growth. Please join her colleagues in wishing her the very best in her new role with SFI and in expressing gratitude for everything she has done for and will continue to do for MSU Forestry and FCCP as the program continues its important work.