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First results and publications

Background

Today, forests cover about 30% of the global land area. Throughout the last 8,000 years over half of the global forest area was converted to other land uses – mostly during the last century. Today there are about 4 billion ha of forest left, 36% of which are still primary forests (FAO 2010).

The increasing deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries accounts for about 20% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC 2007). The development of incentive schemes for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) is therefore currently one of the most important issues of the post-Kyoto negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The idea behind REDD+ is to compensate developing countries for avoiding deforestation, thereby reducing CO2 emissions. REDD+ has the potential to stimulate synergies between the climate protection goals of the UNFCCC and the objectives for biodiversity conservation set by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); however, there are not yet internationally recognized guidelines for the design of this mechanism.


Project objectives

This project aims to analyze the potential risks and opportunities of different REDD+ options regarding the CBD goals for biodiversity conservation in forests. Based on these analyses, suggestions will be developed for the implementation of REDD+ on the international, national, and project levels that will be designed towards creating the biggest possible synergies between climate and biodiversity goals.

Remnants of the Ambohitantely Forest in the sub-humid highland of Madagascar. (© CB Schmitt)

The project approaches the research issue from two angles. Using the "top-down" approach, Subproject 1 (SP1) performs an analysis and evaluation of forest protection strategies on the international policy level. This is carried out by the Institute for Forest and Environmental Policy (IFP). The Institute for Landscape Management heads Subproject 2 (SP2), an analysis of REDD+ pilot projects in order to explain how aspects of biodiversity and climate protection goals can be combined on the project level – the “bottom-up” approach.

In order to reduce temporal and spatial leakage from deforestation and forest degradation, the REDD+ project activities should be integrated into a national REDD+ strategy. The analysis of these national strategies from different points of view provides an important link for the two subgroups.

Methodology

During the initial phase of the project an extensive analysis of scientific literature and existing knowledge was carried out. This was supplemented by an expert workshop. In the second and third year of the project there will be interviews conducted pertaining to each subproject.

Communication with international experts from scientific, economic and policy-making backgrounds is a central aspect of the project. This is supported by a project advisory group ( PAG) composed of experts from various non-governmental organizations and political institutions.

Furthermore, communication with other organizations and the analysis of REDD+ negotiations are facilitated by participation in the Conferences of the Parties ( COP) and the subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC and the CBD (SBSTA and SBSTTA, respectively). In addition to the planned contributions for scientific journals, the political connectivity of the findings is an important goal of the project. This is made possible by the continuous observation of the political processes, and is essential for developing concrete and politically relevant options for the design of the REDD+ mechanism. These are being fed into the ongoing negotiations through strategy papers, presentations and consultative discussions.

The village Montevideo in Huánuco Region, Peru, founded in the 1980ies. (© CB Schmitt)

Subproject 2 objectives

In many countries REDD+ pilot projects are being developed while national REDD+ strategies are being simultaneously created. Subproject 2 is looking at two issues: the aspects of biodiversity that are being considered in REDD+ pilot projects and what opportunities (regarding these aspects) can potentially be developed for harmonizing the national strategies with the project level design. The research for Subproject 2 will be carried out in two different case studies in Peru and eastern Africa.

Both experts that are a part of the development of national REDD+ strategies and managers from REDD+ pilot projects, will be interviewed to find out how the effects of REDD+ project activities can be reported to the national level. The kind of data, the means of reporting and the technological and institutional requirements will play an important role in the interviews.

Interviews with technical co-workers from these projects will also indicate which aspects of biodiversity are measurable with the available funding, and if those cover the biodiversity aspects that are considered crucial and worthy of protection by different stakeholders. Furthermore, the interviews will refer to the methods of remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems ( GIS) that are used in monitoring the impact that project activities have on biodiversity.

It is anticipated that funding could be generated through REDD+ for the continuous maintenance of already existing protected areas as well as for the creation of new protected areas. It is important to know which kind of data sets concerning biodiversity already exist in order to identify priority areas for REDD+ activities, and to which extent these can be used as reference data to evaluate the effects that REDD+ has on biodiversity.

First results

A first milestone of the project was the expert workshop “Greening REDD+: Challenges and opportunities for forest biodiversity conservation”, held by the IFP and the Institute for Landscape Management in Freiburg from April 14th - 16th, 2010. Over 30 experts from 11 different countries with scientific, political and practical backgrounds got together to discuss the issues of “biodiversity safeguards & co-benefits,” “sustainable forest management,” “forest biodiversity monitoring,” and “protected areas and REDD+”. A summary of the workshop (pdf-file, 0,3 MB) was presented in May 2010 at the SBSTTA14 of the CBD in Nairobi. In light of the workshop, two articles (pdf-Datei, 0,4 MB) were produced that explain the political and technical background of the REDD+ mechanism referring to biodiversity.

Publications

Entenmann, S. (2010): Certification of REDD+ pilot projects for biodiversity conservation. In: Sheil, D., Putz, F.R. & Zagt, R.J. (eds.): Biodiversity conservation in certified forests.
Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands: 157-162.

Pistorius T., Schmitt C.B., Benick D. & Entenmann S. (2011): Greening REDD+: Challenges and opportunities for forest biodiversity conservation. Policy Paper, Second revised edition. University of Freiburg, Germany. (pdf-file, 0.3 MB)

Project duration:	2009 - 2012
Funding:	Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) with funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)
Research associate (SP2):	Steffen Entenmann
Supervisor (SP2):	Dr. Christine Schmitt
Partners (SP1):	Dr. Till Pistorius (IFP) - project leader
	Dinah Benick (IFP) - research associate