Abstract
In 2009, the conference of the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change recognized the need to engage communities and indigenous groups into the systems to monitor, report and verify the results of REDD+. Since then, many countries have started to prepare for REDD+ implementation. This article reviews early experiences under development in 11 projects financed by the Alliance Mexico REDD+ located in four Early Action Areas to identify the potential integration of Community Based Monitoring (CBM). The evaluation of the projects is made based on a multi-criteria analysis which considers the potential to produce information relevant for national monitoring systems and the prospects for sustained monitoring practices over time. Results indicate there are challenges to harmonizing monitoring practices and protocols between projects since activities proposed differ greatly from one project to another. Technical specifications for integrating local data into national systems are thus required. The results of these projects can help to identify best practices for planning and implementing REDD+. Findings indicate that in general, resources and capacities to gather, analyse and report information as part of CBM systems are in place in the projects, but usually these reside with non-local experts (i.e., NGOs and Academia); however, there are notable examples where these capacities reside in the communities. If national forest monitoring systems are geared to include information gathered through locally-driven processes REDD+ should promote activities that produce local benefits, but countries would need to build local capacities for managing and monitoring natural resources and would also need to create agreements for sharing and using local data. Otherwise, national systems may need to rely on monitoring practices external to communities, which depend on the continued availability of external financial resources.
Highlights
REDD+ is a policy being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC)
The United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC) has explicitly recognised the need for local communities and indigenous groups to participate in activities as part of MRV systems for REDD+ [2]
There are two requisites that need to be reconciled in national monitoring systems for REDD+
Summary
REDD+ is a policy being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC has explicitly recognised the need for local communities and indigenous groups to participate in activities as part of MRV systems for REDD+ [2]. Successful implementation of REDD+ on the ground, including continued local monitoring of activities and results requires the design of schemes that promote participation in the long term. Developing countries often lack systems and trained personnel to enable local participation and most environmental monitoring efforts rely on researchers/professionals funded by remote agencies, external to study areas (e.g., [15]); these schemes are often expensive, based on non-endemic know-how and may be non-sustainable in the long-term once external funding ends [8,16]. Danielsen et al [8] provide a useful classification for such schemes, which can be used for the analysis of monitoring practices: Type I: externally driven and run monitoring programmes; Type II: externally designed monitoring schemes with local data collection; Type III: collaborative design of monitoring with external interpretation of the data; Type IV: collaborative design of monitoring with local interpretation of the data; and, Type V: autonomous monitoring schemes, designed and run entirely by local people
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