Policy forum: Nationally-determined climate commitments of the BRICS: At the forefront of forestry-based climate change mitigation

Abstract

There exists significant potential for climate mitigation actions from the Forestry Sector among the BRICS, a group of some of the largest economies in the world. In the run-up to the Paris Climate Summit in December 2015, all parties to the UNFCCC outlined their climate action commitments for the next decade and beyond, in the form of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This article evaluates the commitments of the BRICS countries and critically analyses the Forestry Sector-specific climate mitigation actions. We find a demonstrable focus on this sector, indicating its leading role towards climate mitigation. Further south-south cooperation and knowledge sharing can bring about additional gains towards innovations in increasing carbon sinks, reducing emissions from forests, building tools for robust Safeguards Information Systems (SIS) and accessing climate finance instruments including, but not limited to, forest carbon financing mechanisms like REDD+ in these countries.