About

Jeffrey R. Vincent is the Korstian Distinguished Professor in Forest Economics and Management in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University. He also holds positions as a Professor in the Division of Environmental Social Systems and as a Professor of Public Policy Studies. Additionally, he is an affiliate of the Duke Center for International Development. Based at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, his work involves addressing complex environmental and social issues through an interdisciplinary approach, contributing to the fields of forest economics, environmental management, and public policy.

Research topics

• Ecology
• Biology
• Economics
• Environmental science
• Computer Science
• Agroforestry
• Geography
• Environmental resource management
• Political Science
• Finance
• Evolutionary biology
• Environmental planning
• Business
• Mathematics
• Engineering

Selected publications

• Detection of smallholder agroforestry management disturbances in Sri Lanka using Sentinel-2 time series, Landsat CCDC, and Climate Normalization

  Research Square · 2026-04-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Guiding private afforestation to raise public goods provision: Understanding farmers' multi-dimensional preferences for trees in India

  Ecological Economics · 2026-04-04

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Data for "Cost-effectiveness of natural forest regeneration and plantations for climate mitigation"

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-03-26

  datasetOpen accessSenior author

  All data associated with Busch et al. (2024) “Cost-effectiveness of natural forest regeneration and plantations for climate mitigation,” Nature Climate Change, doi: 10.1038/s41558-024-02068-1 are publicly available here. To facilitate reproducibility of our results and use of our datasets, we provide all intermediate datasets in addition to the final results. We provide brief dsecriptions of the published datasets in the 00_README.docx file, including contact information for individuals associated with each dataset. We encourage the use of our data and are happy to answer questions as needed. When using these data, please cite: Busch, J., Bukoski, J.J., Cook-Patton, S.C. Griscom, B., Kaczan, D., Potts, M.D., Yi, Y., and Vincent, J.R. Cost-effectiveness of natural forest regeneration and plantations for climate mitigation. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 996–1002 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02068-1

  PublisherDOI

• The importance of distinguishing between natural and managed tree cover gains in the moist tropics

  Nature Communications · 2025-07-02 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Naturally regenerated forests and managed tree systems provide different levels of carbon, biodiversity, and livelihood benefits. Here, we show that tree cover gains in the moist tropics during 1982–2015 were 56% ± 3% naturally regenerated forests and 27% ± 2.6% managed tree systems, with these differences in forest type, not only natural conditions (climate, soil, and topography), driving observed carbon recovery rates. The remaining 17% ± 3% likely represents small, unmanaged tree patches within non-forest cover types. Achieving global forest restoration goals requires robust monitoring, reporting, and verification of forest types established by restoration initiatives. Tree cover gains in the moist tropics (1982–2015) were 56% naturally regenerated forests and 27% managed tree systems, with forest type influencing carbon recovery. Effective forest restoration requires robust tracking of forest types established by restoration efforts.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Protected areas can provide net benefits without reducing the loss of ecosystem area

  Research Square · 2025-06-20

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• What Tree-Planting Offers Would Scale Up Ecoservice Impacts?Smallholder Farmers’ Preferences in Southern India, Averages & Key Heterogeneities

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Assessing conditions to scale up private investment in forest restoration

  Journal of Forest Business Research · 2025-05-06 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Forest restoration (FR) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) requires private investment. We estimated the area of degraded forestland with investment conditions favoring private FR in 115 LMICs. We examined a base scenario, with FR driven by wood markets and influenced by seven investment conditions, and a “natural climate solutions” (NCS) scenario, with FR driven by carbon markets and influenced by six conditions. We have found that barely half of the restorable area in the base scenario, and barely a third in the NCS scenario, has at least four favorable investment conditions (i.e., at least half of the total number). In both scenarios, less than 1% of the restorable area has all conditions favorable. Locations with more favorable conditions tend to have greater potential to generate local livelihood benefits than global carbon or biodiversity benefits. Of the 59 LMICs that have made national commitments to restore forestland under the Bonn Challenge, which has a global goal to restore 350 million hectares by 2030, more than half have made a commitment whose area exceeds our estimate of the country’s restorable area with at least four favorable investment conditions. This discrepancy implies that those countries cannot rely solely on private investment to achieve their commitments. Scaling up private FR in LMICs requires coordinated public-sector investments and policy interventions to improve investment conditions and ensure that private FR generates both local and global environmental benefits.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bringing the forest back: Restoration priorities in Colombia

  Diversity and Distributions · 2024-02-29 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Aim Colombia has committed to ambitious forest restoration targets which include a 1 million ha Bonn Challenge commitment and 6.47–8.31 million ha (rehabilitation and restoration, respectively) under the National Restoration Plan. Determining where and how to implement programs to achieve these targets remains a significant challenge. Location Colombia. Methods We adopt a multi‐objective optimisation framework for restoration planning and apply it to Colombia. We explore cost‐effective solutions that leverage the potential for assisted natural regeneration benefits while accounting for opportunity and establishment costs of restoration and maximising biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation benefits. We explore four politically relevant restoration area‐based targets (1, 6, 6.47 and 8.31 million ha) and identify minimum cost, and suites of maximum benefit and cost‐effective solutions. Results We identify solutions that simultaneously perform well across biodiversity and carbon objectives, despite trade‐offs between these objectives. We find that cost‐effective solutions can achieve on average 91.1%, 90.8%, 90.5% and 90.1% of maximum carbon benefit and 100% of the maximum biodiversity benefit while significantly reducing costs. On average, the cost‐effective solutions reduce the cost by 87.5%, 56.8%, 59.6% and 46.2% compared to the maximum benefit solutions considering one, six, 6.47 and 8.31 million ha restoration targets, respectively. Main Conclusions Colombia has committed to bold restoration and conservation targets, such as those under the new 2030 Convention on Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework. Strategic forest restoration planning will play an important role in achieving Colombia's biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation goals. We provide quantitative evidence to inform planning for environmentally and economically sensible restoration policy and practice in the country. Our framework and results can help guide Colombia towards meeting its ambitious forest restoration targets cost‐effectively.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Surgery first approach for dentofacial deformity correction of a patient with achondroplasia: a case report

  Frontiers of Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine · 2024-11-20

  articleOpen access

  Background: Achondroplasia is a characteristically short physical appearance. Of particular interest to this paper is the craniofacial features. Craniofacial features include a hypoplastic midface, enlarged calvaria, frontal bossing, flattened nasal bridge, mandibular prognathism (potentially masking micrognathia) and dental malocclusion including an anterior open bite. Case Description: A 19-year-old male with achondroplasia presented to the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Dentistry with the chief complaint that “he needed to eat and chew better”. The patient said that in addition to his difficulty incising and chewing foods, he also had speech problems related to jaw position. Clinical examination revealed concave facial profile, hypoplastic midfacial soft tissue, adequate distance between the throat and chin. His malocclusion was complicated by a significant anterior crossbite with −9 mm overjet, left side posterior crossbite, and significant deep overbite. The maxillary and mandibular dental midline was coincident with the facial midline. There was no popping, clicking, or crepitation of the temporomandibular joint. The final treatment plan decided was a surgery first approach (SFA) to rehabilitate the patient. This plan included non-extraction treatment, followed by a Le Fort 1 maxillary osteotomy to advance the maxilla, bilateral sagittal split setback with intermaxillary fixation screws. Post-surgical orthodontic treatment with the use of conventional orthodontic brackets was also planned to correct inter-arch discrepancies after the surgery. Conclusions: While SFA has been documented for correction of severe dentofacial deformities including cleft lip and palate, severe malocclusions, and hemifacial microsomia, this case report represents the first time a patient with achondroplasia has had a successful SFA to correct his dentofacial deformity and occlusion. This technique represents a breakthrough in the management of patients with significant facial deformities and the effective use of precious financial and clinical resources.

  PublisherDOI

• People today who plant trees successfully do it for livelihoods and income not for biodiversity or climate mitigation

  Frontiers in Forests and Global Change · 2024-03-18 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OPINION article Front. For. Glob. Change, 18 March 2024Sec. Planted Forests Volume 7 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1372409

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Richard T. Carson

  Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

  13 shared

• Karl-Göran Mäler

  Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

  12 shared

• John G. Meara

  Harvard University

  11 shared

• Blake C. Alkire

  Harvard University

  11 shared

• Jon Strand

  World Bank

  10 shared

• Matthew D. Potts

  State Street (United States)

  10 shared

• Susana Ferreira

  University of Georgia

  9 shared

• Lloyd C. Irland

  9 shared