Deforestation and forest degradation account for 10–15% of global human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. The causes of deforestation vary both regionally and temporally, and generally do not occur in isolation but operate through a complex range of interactions.
The principal objective of the UNFCCC’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) is to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by financially incentivizing countries to maintain forest cover. For a host of reasons, the scheme has also come to incorporate biodiversity, poverty, governance and adaptation objectives.
Applying the landscape approach concept to REDD+ can encourage cross-sectoral perspectives to deliver on equity goals, co-benefits and multilevel governance of natural resources.
Negotiators should:
- Approach mitigation in an integrated way to capture all the related co-benefits of activities.
- Address missing institutions.
- Consider data from land-use change models that simulate and map future biodiversity loss, commodity production trends and change in land cover, to inform land-use planning and REDD+ policies.
- Encourage countries to formulate and implement policies that go beyond carbon benefits to co-benefits.
What do you think: Is REDD+ ready to incorporate other land use considerations? And how can other sectors and discussions under UNFCCC/SBSTA – like agriculture – benefit from lessons learned with REDD+?
