Introductory guide to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)

 

About one fifth of all the carbon emitted by human activity has come from deforestation, according to the Stern Report. Every year, more than 13 million hectares of the world’s forests are lost. Stopping people cutting down trees would make a huge contribution to hitting targets on reducing carbon emission amd keeping temperatures rises to 2 degrees C.

 

Protecting trees has a double benefit in terms of climate change. Existing trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere while chopping down trees not only reduces that capacity but adds to the stock of gases in the atmosphere as CO2 is released. This where REDD can make a difference.

 

The reasons for deforestation are many and complex. Local communities use forests to provide sources of food, fuel and farmland. Millions of people in developing countries rely of forests to make a living for their families. A major cause of deforestation is large-scale agriculture driven by consumer demand.

 

What is REDD?
REDD - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation – is the mechanism to slow down or stop deforestation. It is now known as REDD Plus or REDD+ because it has been recognised that conservation and the sustainable management of forests are also crucial activities for delivering reductions in emissions from forests.  

 

The principle behind REDD+ is that trees must be worth more standing than chopped down.  Developing countries should be able to access finance for efforts to reduce tonnes of carbon emitted through forest activities. Finance could come directly from funds or indirectly from the market.

 

How does REDD work?
There is as yet no formal mechanism for REDD+ but it is being discussed as part of the negotiations on a new climate agreement.  Any REDD+ mechanism must have two key elements: a source of funding to pay countries that tackle deforestation; and a transparent and credible method of showing that  emissions from deforestation have been reduced.

Finance
By putting a value on forests for the services they provide by keeping carbon out of the atmosphere, REDD+ can make retaining forests more valuable than the timber or plantation revenues that would result from clearing forests.

REDD involves payments by developed countries to developing countries that will prevent deforestation or degradation that would otherwise have taken place. The possible sources of this funding are:

• carbon trading, where actors in developed countries offset their own emissions by purchasing carbon credits generated by developing countries (this means paying developing countries for tonnes of carbon avoided);
• Alternatively it can be some other mechanism such as a fund, which does not depend on offsets.

 

A report by the Informal Working Group on Interim Finance for REDD+ (IWG-IFR) suggests that a 25% reduction in annual global deforestation rate could be achieved by 2015 if finance of some €15bn-€25bn ($22-$36bn) is available for the period 2010-2015. The EU has proposed €18bn ($25bn) per annum by 2020.

 

There are a number of REDD+ demonstration initiatives providing support to developing countries for early action. The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility is supporting the development of national REDD+ strategies and testing how you buy and sell REDD credits.  The Forest Investment Programme (FIP), is a project into which the UK has pledged up to £100m, aims to demonstrate ways of using public finance effectively to mobilise investment into sustainable forest management.

 

In 2008, the UN set up the UN-REDD programme, a collaboration between the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and including a multi-donor trust fund.

 

Measuring 

Methods for measuring emissions from REDD+ are under consideration but should draw existing guidelines developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.It will take some time before many countries have Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems accurate enough to estimate emissions reductions with the high levels of certainty required for the  market. Before then it may be possible to use so called proxy emissions reductions, estimated using forest cover change and estimates of the carbon stored per hectare of forest.

Although the details are up for negotiation there are a number of key principles:

• Tonnes of CO2 should be measured relative to an agreed reference level, and verified against compliance standards and transparent measurements of environmental integrity.
• Where this is not possible, payments could be paid on the basis tonnes of CO2 estimated on a conservative basis, thereby providing an incentive towards better MRV – monitoring, reporting and verification.
• REDD+ schemes must avoid ‘leakage’ - where conservation in one area simply shifts deforestation to another.
• Projects and programmes also need to be ‘additional’ – that is, they must lead directly to reductions in deforestation and degradation that would not have happened simply as a result of wider changes in the economy.

 

What will happen in Copenhagen?
At COP13 in Bali, 2007 'the urgent need to take further meaningful action to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation' was agreed. Copenhagen aims to agree to the objectives, scope and principles of a REDD+ mechanism, including how and what incentives will be provided by developed countries in exchange for ambitious commitments to take action by developing countries, as part of the overall climate deal.