National REDD+ Strategy for Climate Change Mitigation: A Review and Comparison of Developing Countries

Jewel Andoh,Yohan Lee

doi:10.3390/su10124781

Abstract

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) in developing countries requires a National REDD+ Strategy (NRS) to ensure effectiveness, efficiency and equity. So far, only a few countries have submitted their NRS to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to progress to the implementation phase of REDD+. To compare the NRS of eight countries from Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, we used content analysis to assess whether these countries have paid attention to the REDD+ design components and adhered to the UNFCCC REDD+ rules. Our results demonstrate that all eight countries have paid considerable attention to REDD+ activities, finance, measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), and safeguard systems, and most countries have not adhered to the UNFCCC REDD+ rules on scale including the definition of national and subnational forests, subnational projects to be nested into national systems, and subnational activities to be verified by experts. REDD+ countries must develop definitions for national and subnational forests to enhance forest monitoring and they must develop technical and institutional infrastructure for MRV and safeguard systems, to receive results-based payments, and for the sustainability of REDD+ projects.

Highlights

Many developing countries have demonstrated a commitment to combating climate change through various programs and interventions such as the Payment of Environmental Services (PES), the Clean Development Mechanism, the Forest Investment Program (FIP), and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) initiative, and other projects
These rules serve as technical guidelines or a framework for REDD+ countries to develop strategies depending on the national circumstances for addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation
REDD+ countries cannot progress to implementing REDD+ if the systems and mechanisms for MRV, financing, and safeguards are not in place, or there is no clear definition of national and subnational forests considering the parameters of REDD+ in the National REDD+ Strategy (NRS)

Summary

Introduction

Many developing countries have demonstrated a commitment to combating climate change through various programs and interventions such as the Payment of Environmental Services (PES), the Clean Development Mechanism, the Forest Investment Program (FIP), and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) initiative, and other projects. In some countries, these programs and initiatives seem ineffective and inefficient in eliminating the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, which have contributed significantly to global greenhouse emission. The drivers of deforestation are direct or indirect activities or actions at the forest frontier that impact forest cover. The direct drivers are agricultural expansion, illicit logging, fuelwood extraction, mining, and infrastructural development, while the indirect drivers are population growth, weak law enforcement, poverty, and corruption [1,2,3]. The rate of deforestation is still consequential in tropical developing countries despite numerous policies implemented to tackle its drivers. The forest area in sub-Saharan Africa declined from 30.6%

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