REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries)

By Rhett A. Butler



This article presents the state of REDD+ as of 2012. There are regular updates on REDD+ in the news feed below.

REDD — reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries — is a proposed climate change mitigation mechanism that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by paying developing countries to stop cutting down their forests. Tropical deforestation is the source of 12-17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, a share larger than all the world's cars, trucks, ships, planes, and trains combined.

A properly designed REDD mechanism is widely seen as a cost-effective approach to simultaneously conserve forests, slow climate change, protect biodiversity, foster sustainable development, and maintain important ecological services provided by healthy forest ecosystems. The concept of REDD has won support from a wide range of interests, including conservationists, big business, scientists, governments, development agencies, and some environmental and indigenous rights groups. However concerns still remain over how REDD will be implemented and whether benefits will be fairly shared between stakeholders.


Smallholder deforestation in Borneo

History of REDD

The concept of REDD is not a new idea. Compensating tropical forest conservation was proposed by environmental scientists in the 1980s and 1990s but it wasn't until the later half of the 1990s that the idea gained much currency at the international level, when it was discussed at various United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) events, including COP3 in Kyoto in 1997. Nevertheless technical concerns and opposition from some environmental groups (led by WWF) resulted in forest conservation being excluded from the Kyoto Protocol by 2001.

The concept of 'avoided deforestation' re-emerged on the international stage in 2005 with the formation of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations (CfRN), a group of tropical countries lobbying for the inclusion of forest conservation as a way to mitigate to climate change. Led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, the Coalition for Rainforest Nations presented a draft proposal "Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries: approaches to stimulate action" at COP11 in Montreal in 2005. Two years of negotiations and technical advancements culminated in the Bali Action Plan of December 2007, which called for "policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries [REDD], and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stock in developing countries." Support for REDD has deepened and broadened since Bali: REDD was one of the only areas of progress during climate talks in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Since its inception as "avoided deforestation", the forest protection mechanism has expanded to encompass forest degradation (the second "D" in REDD). It later evolved to include sustainable forest management (i.e. reducing impact logging) and reforestation, becoming known as REDD-plus ("REDD+").


Soy and Chaco forest

Key REDD issues

While there is now substantial support for REDD, many issues remain unsettled, including financing to support the mechanism and provide sufficient economic incentives to stop deforestation; criteria for establishing credible deforestation baselines; technical aspects of monitoring and verifying change in forest cover; concerns over poor governance and illegal logging; international leakage, whereby forest conservation in one country drives deforestation in another; scale of implementation, including the debate over "national" versus "sub-national" projects; equity, including land tenure, ownership, and participation of forest-dependent communities; questions on how to address drivers of deforestation including consumption in rich countries; sustainable forest management (i.e. reduced impact logging) versus protection of primary forests as intact ecosystems; protection of biodiversity and environmental services in non-carbon-rich ecosystems; and controversies over carbon offsets and including forest carbon in market-based trading schemes.



REDD timing

Although an agreement on REDD has still not been signed, projects are already underway in a number of countries and industrialized countries have committed billions of dollars to REDD start-up initiatives via the UN-REDD Programme, the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, and other entities. Once an agreement is finalized, 2013 is the earliest REDD would formally commence, following the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol.

REDD Funding

The following overview is from the UN's Reporting REDD.

    Once a system is in place, market-based funding mechanisms such as carbon trading, and private sector involvement, could be introduced. Some proposals back a combination of government and private sector funding.

    Carbon trading is based on the idea that companies and governments may meet targets for reducing their carbon emissions by paying for carbon reductions elsewhere in the global economy instead. REDD could allow credits to be issued which would quantify the amount of carbon saved through 'avoided deforestation' — not cutting trees down. The credits could then be traded on carbon markets.

    An advantage of carbon trading is that it could raise money quickly. A disadvantage is that flooding existing carbon markets with REDD credits could further dilute the already low value of carbon. A low carbon price means there is less incentive for companies to switch to technologies that reduce carbon emissions.

    Developing countries would voluntarily opt in to the REDD mechanism, so for it to work the scheme would have to ensure that there is more money in protecting forests than in logging or agriculture. Because those responsible for commercially driven deforestation often control the forest area in which they operate, they need to be involved in REDD schemes. Typically, this involves paying them to manage the forest sustainably, or at least not to engage in large-scale logging or land conversion. REDD will have to compensate for income lost as a result of stopping forest clearance — known as the 'opportunity cost.' While REDD may be able to match this amount for poor farmers, matching lost income from lucrative agricultural production such as soya and oil palm cultivation or from valuable timber will be very costly. If payments are disrupted, or the amount falls short of the value of the timber in the forest or what could be grown on cleared land, a return to cutting down trees could quickly occur. To avert this problem, REDD would need to ensure a steady flow of funds over long periods. Negotiators concerned that fluctuations in the carbon market would be too erratic advocate a separate REDD fund based on donations from industrialized countries.
Drained, cleared, and burned peat forest in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

REDD Resources

Official documents

Key REDD Programs


Some notable REDD Publications

REDD Glossary

The following overview is from the UN's Reporting REDD.

Additionality
Extra amount of carbon saved or stored because of projects carried out through climate change agreements.

Baseline or Reference level (RL)
Historical reference point (date or year) against which the rate of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation or forest degradation can be compared.

Carbon rights
The right to use carbon credits or offsets to satisfy limits on greenhouse gas emissions or to reduce penalties for exceeding the limit imposed.

Carbon sink
Ecosystem that accumulates and stores carbon.

Carbon sequestration
Removal of carbon from the atmosphere and storage in carbon sinks through natural or human-induced methods.

Carbon trading
The process of buying and selling carbon credits. Large companies or organizations are assigned targets for the amount of carbon they are allowed to emit. A company that exceeds its target will need to buy carbon credits to offset the extra carbon it has emitted. A company that uses less than its quota can sell surplus credits.

Deforestation
The conversion of forest land to non-forested land through human activity.

Degradation
Human-induced long-term loss of forest, characterized by the reduction of tree crown cover, but not yet considered as complete deforestation.

Indigenous peoples
Tribe or community native to a particular region and sharing a collective identity who retain some or all of their own social, cultural and political institutions.

Leakage or emissions displacement
When efforts to reduce emissions in one area lead to an increase in carbon emissions in another area.

Liability
Obligation on the implementing party to guarantee that the emissions reduction credited in the REDD scheme is permanent.

Mitigation
Actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.

Offsetting
Payment to emissions reduction projects to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions.

Opportunity cost
The cost of compensating for financial gains from deforestation practices such as logging or agriculture.


The following definitions are from the International Institute for Environment and Development.

REDD
The acronym stands for ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation’. This issue was first placed on the agenda of the 2005 international climate change negotiations. At that point the agenda item was called ‘reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries and approaches to stimulate action’. As a result, this is the name of the decision on REDD agreed at the 2007 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, Indonesia (decision 2/CP.13). Decision 2/CP.13 acknowledges that forest degradation also leads to emissions and needs to be addressed when reducing emissions from deforestation. The ‘DD’ in REDD now stands for degradation and deforestation.

REDD +
Along with the separate decision on REDD (see above), REDD is included in the Bali Action Plan (decision 1/CP.13) as a component of enhanced action on mitigation (curbing emissions). Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed to consider policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to REDD in developing countries and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. It is this last clause on the role of conservation and sustainable management that has added the ‘+’ to the REDD discussion.

REDD baseline
An expected, or business-as-usual, emission of carbon dioxide from deforestation and forest degradation in the absence of additional efforts to curb such emissions — used as a benchmark against which emissions reductions can be measured.

REDD conditions
To deliver real reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, REDD must satisfy the following conditions.

  • additionality - Proof that any reduction in emissions from a REDD project is genuinely additional to reductions that would occur if that project were not in place.
  • no leakage - Leakage is a reduction in carbon emissions in one area that results in increased emissions in another. A classic example is where curbing clearfelling in one region of forest drives farmers to clearfell in another.
  • permanence - The long-term viability of reduced emissions from a REDD project. This is heavily dependent on the forested area's vulnerability to deforestation and/or degradation.

     

    THE LATEST REDD+ NEWS FROM MONGABAY

    Loggers and carbon projects forge odd partnerships in the Brazilian Amazon (09 Dec 2024 00:04:33 +0000)
    - Mongabay examined four REDD+ projects in Pará state and found that all were developed in partnership with sawmill owners with a long history of environmental fines.
    - The projects were developed by Brazil’s largest carbon credit generator, Carbonext, a company linked to a major fraud involving REDD+ projects and illegal loggers in Amazonas state.
    - According to experts, REDD+ projects may have become a new business opportunity for individuals who have profited from deforestation for decades.

    After historic 2024 coral bleaching, hope remains for Mesoamerican Reef (06 Dec 2024 19:03:57 +0000)
    - The Mesoamerican Reef, the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, stretches 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) along the Caribbean coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.
    - The latest instalment of the Mesoamerican Reef Report Card, a periodic health assessment, finds that in 2024, the worst coral bleaching event on record reduced the reef’s coral cover.
    - Although the overall health of the Mesoamerican Reef remains “poor,” according to the report, its health actually improved for the first time in five years.
    - The report attributes this positive development to an increase in fish populations due to effective enforcement of fisheries rules by regional authorities.

    ‘Bear’s-eye camera’ reveals elusive Andean bear cannibalism and treetop mating (06 Dec 2024 18:26:31 +0000)
    - Scientists captured the first-ever camera collar footage of wild Andean bears, revealing unprecedented behaviors, including canopy mating and cannibalism.
    - The research team, led by Indigenous researcher Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, successfully tracked a male bear for four months in Peru’s challenging cloud forest terrain.
    - The footage challenges previous assumptions about Andean bears being solitary vegetarians and shows them behaving more like other bear species.
    - While the bears face mounting threats from climate change and human conflict, researchers are combining scientific study with community education to protect them.

    That Cuban rodent species you never knew about? Turns out it’s two species (06 Dec 2024 16:26:13 +0000)
    - New genetic research of museum specimens has found that the large rodents known as hutias on Cuba are two distinct species, not one as previously thought.
    - ‘Capromys pilorides’ inhabits the eastern part of the island, and ‘Capromys geayi’ is found in the west, split by nearly 2 million years of evolution, likely due to a once-deep water channel that also divided Cuba.
    - Scientists say the conservation status of both these is least concern, but threats such as deforestation, poaching and invasive predators remain.
    - The eastern species may be a candidate for rewilding in the Cayman Islands, whose native hutia was closely related to Desmarest’s hutia and went extinct after the arrival of Europeans.

    The uncertain future of Amazon river dolphins amid historic drought (06 Dec 2024 13:27:22 +0000)
    - This year, the drought in Amazon rivers is already worse than in 2023, when 209 pink and grey river dolphins were found dead in Lake Tefé, in Amazonas state, largely due to overheating of the waters.
    - To avoid a new tragedy, local organizations have taken action in advance, establishing emergency operations with stronger monitoring, staff training and equipment acquisition.
    - However, no dolphin deaths due to heat stress have been recorded this year; instead, dozens of carcasses of aquatic mammals have appeared in Amazon lakes as a result of another sinister effect of drought: increased interactions with humans.

    Students and scientists collaborate to maintain Navajo Nation forests (06 Dec 2024 11:05:08 +0000)
    - Scores of saplings are choking out some pinyon pine forests in the southwestern United States, smothering the grasses that support ranchers.
    - Researchers thinned small trees from a pinyon woodland in the Navajo Nation, creating an open forest that supports understory plant growth.
    - Tribal and nontribal researchers and students from Northern Arizona University and Diné College on the Navajo Nation collaborated on the project.

    Colliding icebergs and chirping seals: Polar ocean sounds are reimagined in art-science collaboration (06 Dec 2024 02:16:11 +0000)
    - The United Nations declared the 2020s the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development to highlight the need for public engagement, citizenship, and connection to harness positive change for the world’s seas.
    - Art and science collaborations can make the hidden depths of the oceans come alive for people via creative pieces drawing from real marine research.
    - Researchers in Germany and artists from around the world united to highlight the sounds of the polar oceans through art projects created with recordings from the Ocean Acoustics Group at the Alfred Wegener Institute.

    As Thailand’s blue swimming crabs decline, crab banks offer a sustainable solution (05 Dec 2024 22:30:12 +0000)
    - Fishing of blue swimming crabs in Thailand has historically exceeded sustainable levels, leading to a decline in both the number and size of crabs that fishers were catching.
    - Understanding the urgency of recovering the crab population, fishers, government agencies, NGOs and the private sector have rolled out a series of initiatives to make the fishery more sustainable.
    - These include seasonal bans on harvesting egg-carrying crabs, restrictions on trawling and certain kinds of fishing gear, and the establishment of crab banks, where egg-bearing females are nurtured, with their hatchlings later released into a secure marine site.
    - Fishers and experts welcome the crab banks, but emphasize the need for a “sustainable holistic scheme,” given that a reliance on crab banks alone won’t rebuild blue swimming crab populations.

    Gaps in Peru’s peatland policies harm conservation and Indigenous Shipibo: Study (05 Dec 2024 17:53:11 +0000)
    - Significant inconsistencies and gaps in science and policies for peatland protection in Peru’s Imiría Regional Conservation Area have led to long-standing conflicts with Indigenous Shipibo residents who argue the regulations restrict their livelihoods.
    - According to researchers, the current local conservation policies inadvertently impose adverse effects on Indigenous livelihoods and negatively impact Indigenous sovereignty, therefore exacerbating existing tensions and mistrust between conservation authorities and communities.
    - The absence of scientific data and lack of mention of peatlands in the area’s master plan means locals and policymakers are unaware of the importance of the critical ecosystem and policies aren’t well-informed, the researchers warn.
    - Researchers and park management underline the importance of scientific support and the creation of participatory and effective governance frameworks that incorporate Indigenous perspectives and a more strategic approach to conservation.

    Bolivia’s internal colonization and its March to the East (05 Dec 2024 16:30:47 +0000)
    - Bolivia’s current configuration and its final area were consolidated after the Chaco War and after the country ceded Acre to Brazil and its coastal provinces to Chile.
    - Since then, the need to occupy vast territories allowed for wide-scale deforestation, especially in the Chapare and the alluvial plain of Santa Cruz.
    - In the department of Santa Cruz, population grew from about 300,000 in 1960 to more than three million in 2022. Although 70 % of this growth has been concentrated in the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the urban economy continues to rely heavily on agriculture.

    Progress on rights complaint systems in Congo Basin but more needed, says group (05 Dec 2024 16:03:46 +0000)
    - On November 27, the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) released a report on data it collected on human rights complaints procedures at 24 protected areas in four Congo Basin countries.
    - The data showed that only around a third had active grievance and redress mechanisms (GRMs), and that most suffered from shortcomings related to financing, participation, design and transparency.
    - Of parks with procedures for community members to make complaints about human rights abuses, fewer than half kept a public register of those complaints or their outcomes.
    - Salonga National Park in the DRC, site of some of the worst abuses in recent memory, was said to have the most advanced complaints procedure, but RFUK said there was still room to improve.

    Pesticide exposure drives up rural women’s cancer risk in Brazil farming belt (05 Dec 2024 15:22:18 +0000)
    - A study has found that women exposed to pesticides during farm work in Brazil’s Paraná state have a 60% higher risk of developing breast cancer, and a 220% higher risk of metastasis.
    - While they don’t typically spray the pesticides, these women are responsible for cleaning the equipment and clothing used to do it, during which they rarely wear personal protective equipment.
    - The study found glyphosate, atrazine and 2,4-D in urine samples from rural women; health and regulatory agencies consider these three pesticides as possibly or probably carcinogenic.
    - Brazil has one of the most permissive pesticide markets in the world, where levels of exposure to chemicals like glyphosate are several times higher than in more strictly regulated jurisdictions such as the European Union.

    Agroecology offers blueprint for resilient farming in northern Ghana (05 Dec 2024 13:49:34 +0000)
    - Erratic rainfall and rising temperatures have hit farmers in Ghana’s semiarid Upper East region hard in recent years
    - Planting rows of trees and allowing goats and sheep to graze their fields is helping retain soil moisture and fertility, while encouraging birds and bats to return, helping to control pests.
    - The trees and small livestock also provide additional sources of income for farmers.
    - These agroecological practices of alley cropping and mixed farming can be adapted to other drought-prone regions across Africa, proponents say.

    Coral reefs could survive climate change, but in altered state, study says (05 Dec 2024 12:00:23 +0000)
    - Coral reefs, vital for a billion people globally, face massive loss and potential collapse within decades due to rising ocean temperatures and acidification, even if emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement are met, scientists say.
    - A new study challenges this prediction, suggesting reefs could adapt and avoid collapse, albeit with significant changes; it nevertheless highlights the need for ongoing reductions in local stressors and carbon emissions.
    - The study tested the responses of experimental reefs, which included eight Hawaiian coral species and other reef-dwelling organisms, to various future ocean scenarios.
    - However, some point out that such studies have limitations, such as not fully replicating reality or simulating the impact of further shocks on coral reef ecosystems, that reduce their predictive capacity.

    In Chile, discovery of shallowest red hydrocoral forest yet surprises scientists (05 Dec 2024 11:48:50 +0000)
    - Scientists have discovered massive marine forests in southern Chile’s Kawésqar National Reserve, formed by the red hydrocoral species Errina antarctica.
    - These colonies, found at depths ranging from 1.23 to 33 meters (4 to 108 feet), are the world’s southernmost and shallowest known to date.
    - Experts emphasize the importance of protecting these fragile ecosystems and hope the newly discovered forests will be considered in the reserve’s management plan.

    Certified ethanol produced in Brazil for global airlines linked to slave labor (05 Dec 2024 11:00:39 +0000)
    - Fuel produced from sugarcane in Brazil has become a strategic option for decarbonizing the aviation sector.
    - But companies operating in this business have been linked to recent reports of labor abuses on sugarcane farms, a new report from Repórter Brasil shows. The rise in reports of labor abuses is partly attributed to the growing outsourcing of labor for planting.
    - Workers hired via subcontractors lived in poor conditions without basic amenities, traveled long hours to reach the sugarcarne fields, and paid for their safety equipment.
    - While certifications needed to access the fuel market are meant to protect workers, experts says certifiers are not doing enough to ensure fair working conditions and pay.

    Severe drought in Peruvian Amazon isolated more than 130 Indigenous communities (05 Dec 2024 10:27:09 +0000)
    - A severe drought that spread over recent months in Peru’s Loreto and Ucayali regions led to the isolation of more than 130 communities.
    - Record low river levels affected the navigation of boats that deliver food and supplies as well as the health and livelihoods of communities that rely on fish for food and trade.
    - Indigenous leaders from isolated communities have criticized the state for failing to deliver emergency assistance, such as drinking water and medical supplies.
    - The frequency and intensity of extreme drought in the Amazon will continue to increase substantially due to climate change, experts warn.

    Traditional fishers in Peru guard the coast from illegal fishing (05 Dec 2024 09:31:59 +0000)
    - In Chimbote, north of Lima in Peru, fishers have been working for years to protect the Peruvian grunt (Anisotremus scapularis), a fish species in high demand for its meat, along a 1.5-kilometer (almost 1-mile) stretch of coast.
    - Illegal fishing methods such as explosives have become common in this area, and the authorities have failed to deter them.
    - The fishers, who use traditional methods to catch the grunt from shore, keep watch for illegal activities in the area in hopes that the species will not disappear.

    DRC’s reliance on charcoal threatens forests and fuels armed conflict (05 Dec 2024 07:15:32 +0000)
    - More than 90% of the population in the Democratic Republic of Congo rely on charcoal for their energy needs, driving the pervasive logging of forests across the country.
    - One of the affected areas is Virunga National Park and its surroundings, the source of the wood for 92% of the charcoal used in North Kivu province.
    - Activists and experts attribute the problem to the inaccessibility and high cost of grid electricity, as well as the fact that long-running armed conflict has led to 2.7 million people, out of North Kivu’s official population of 6.6 million, becoming internally displaced.
    - Some initiatives underway aim to tackle the problem, including development of solar and hydroelectric power, and commercial tree plantations to produce charcoal, but none of these are at the scale required yet to make a meaningful impact.

    Clouded leopard sighting raises questions about conservation and research in Bangladesh (05 Dec 2024 04:04:57 +0000)
    - Clouded leopards occur in some South and Southeast Asian countries, but have fast been losing their habitat and, in 2021, IUCN declared the carnivore a vulnerable species.
    - In Bangladesh, where there is no official record of the species, wildlife researchers studying other wildlife recently spotted clouded leopards in their camera trap footage, raising hope for their habitat conservation.
    - Researchers have expressed concern about the lack of intensive research and conservation strategies for endangered species in Bangladesh.




    Participants in the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility as of 2012
      Argentina, Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Liberia, Madagascar, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Republic of Congo, Suriname, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.
    For a more current list, see un-redd.org

    UN-REDD Programme - Countries receiving support as of 2012
      Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tanzania, Viet Nam, and Zambia.
    For a more current list, see un-redd.org

     

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