Standards And Methods Available For Estimating Project Level Redd Carbon Benefits

" ... the reference guide introduces the basic guidance on the most relevant aspects of REDD+ projects provided by 3 well-established standards deemed to be the most representative of their kind: the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) ... the Plan Vivo System ... and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards (CCB)

REDD+ is one of the leading near-term options for global climate change mitigation. More than 300 subnational REDD+ initiatives have been launched across the tropics, responding to both the call for demonstration activities in the Bali Action Plan and the market for voluntary carbon offset credits.

REDD+ must be transformational. REDD+ requires broad institutional and governance reforms, such as tenure, decentralisation, and corruption control. These reforms will enable departures from business as usual, and involve communities and forest users in making and implementing policies that a ect them. Policies must go beyond forestry. REDD+ strategies must include policies outside the forestry sector narrowly de ned, such as agriculture and energy, and better coordinate across sectors to deal with non-forest drivers of deforestation and degradation. Performance-based payments are key, yet limited. Payments based on performance directly incentivise and compensate forest owners and users. But schemes such as payments for environmental services (PES) depend on conditions, such as secure tenure, solid carbon data and transparent governance, that are often lacking and take time to change. This constraint reinforces the need for broad institutional and policy reforms. We must learn from the past. Many approaches to REDD+ now being considered are similar to previous e orts to conserve and better manage forests, often with limited success. Taking on board lessons learned from past experience will improve the prospects of REDD+ e ectiveness. National circumstances and uncertainty must be factored in. Di erent country contexts will create a variety of REDD+ models with di erent institutional and policy mixes. Uncertainties about the shape of the future global REDD+ system, national readiness and political consensus require  exibility and a phased approach to REDD+ implementation.

First Published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The report offers a simple framework for policy analysis by identifying three forest types: frontiers and disputed lands; lands beyond the agricultural frontier; and, mosaic lands where forests and agriculture coexist. It collates geographic and economic information for each type that will help formulate poverty-reducing forest policy.

The REDD scheme of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a carbon-based compensation for projects that resulted in reducing carbon emissions or enhancing carbon sinks or both in tropical forests. However, estimating such emissions and sinks remains challenging, and thus making it impossible to estimate carbon revenues from managing tropical forests. Here, we estimated the reduced emissions and sinks by developing models for setting Reference Emission Level (REL) and Project Emission Level (PEL) for REDD projects in concession forests taking emissions under conventional logging (CVL) scenario as that of REL, and emissions under reduced impact logging (RIL) and RIL with liberation treatment (RIL) scenarios as that of PEL. By choosing Cambodia as a case study, REL under the current logging system of 25-year cutting cycle was estimated at 23.1 TgCO2 year-1. To determine an appropriate cutting cycle, we tested our models with four cutting cycles and found that a 50-year cutting cycle is more appropriate. Taking this 50-year cutting cycle for REDD project, PELs were estimated at 0.4 TgCO2 and -3.3 TgCO2 year-1 under RIL and RIL, respectively (- means sinks). After subtracting REL with PEL and leakages, annual carbon credits from managing 3.4 million ha of concession forests in Cambodia were estimated at 15.9-18.5 TgCO2 depending on chosen scenario. With a carbon price of $5 MgCO2-1, total revenues from the sales of carbon credits alone are $79.5-92.5 million annually. To ensure continued flow of wood supply from tropical forests while mitigating climate change, we suggest that new climate agreements adopt RIL or RIL for sustainable forest management in tropical countries.

Constructive critique. This book provides a critical, evidence-based analysis of REDD+ implementation so far, without losing sight of the urgent need to reduce forest-based emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change. REDD+ as envisioned