September 9, 2011―About 800 million people live in or around tropical forests and woodlands and depend on them for food, fuel, and income. Both rich and poor people cut trees for gains As a result, tropical forests are shrinking at about five percent each decade  about  the size of Portugal disappearing. Pressure on forests will not disappear anytime soon. Croplands, pastures and plantations are expanding into natural forests and will likely do so for the next 30 to 50 years.

In Nepal, shrinking community forests increase the threat of mud slides in the mountains and decrease fodder and fuel material of the rural population that heavily depends on bioenergy. The same is true of the Amazon region in Bolivia where deforestation threatens the livelihood of indigenous communities. “And Africa is even more vulnerable to climate change compared to other continents, because people are poorer, have less resources and depend more on rain-fed agriculture,” said Rose Akombo of the Kenya Forest Service.

Deforestation and Climate Change

Deforestation contributes significantly to climate change and is responsible for about one-fifth of global carbon emissions. Forests store more carbon than both the atmosphere and the world’s oil reserves combined.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries - REDD - is a key issue at the international climate change negotiations.  REDD aims to prevent the loss of forests through carbon payments that finance sustainable forest management, forest conservation and greenhouse gas mitigation in developing countries.

For example, in Latin America tropical forest is often cleared to create pastures worth just $300 a hectare. Felling forests also means releasing large amounts of carbon. At the same time, industries in developed countries pay millions of dollars to reduce their carbon emissions. In other words, the forest land has greater value as a storehouse of carbon than as a low-grade pasture. And this can be a source of income for many developing countries.

Saving Forests and Earning Carbon Credits

The Noel Kempff Climate Action Project in northeastern Bolivia was the first REDD project in the world to be certified in 2005. “The project made it possible to conserve 832,000 hectares of tropical forest adjacent to the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park that was threatened with logging.  At the same time, the neighboring indigenous villages were legally recognized as Communities of Native Peoples and received legal land titles for their lands. Today, these communities make decisions about the management of their land and are implementing economic development activities,” highlighted Karin Columba, the former executive director of the Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN)-Bolivia which together with The Nature Conservancy created the project in 1997.

But many countries don’t know how best to develop REDD projects. “When developing REDD strategies, countries need to have a better understanding of the related costs at the national level. It is important for them to know the trade-offs of deforestation,” said Stephanie Tam, Operations Officer at the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) which is managed by the World Bank.
 

And Africa is even more vulnerable to climate change compared to other continents, because people are poorer, have less resources and depend more on rain-fed agriculture.Rose Akombo of the Kenya Forest Service

REDD Learning Workshops

The World Bank Institute (WBI) in collaboration with FCPF offers regional workshops for REDD specialists and government officials. The courses are based on a comprehensive training manual and provide hands-on tools to analyze the opportunity costs and implementation costs of REDD and promote South-South knowledge exchange.

“This workshop gave us an excellent opportunity to share experiences with other countries on REDD preparation process and to pay more attention to the economic issues involved in REDD. We hope to facilitate the establishment of a taskforce in Ecuador in the near future,” confirmed Andrés Hübenthal, who works for a Sustainable Management of Natural Resources project of the German Development Cooperation (GIZ)in Ecuador and participated in a workshop in Latin America.

Devesh Mani from the Nepalese Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation attended a course in Asia: “Opportunity cost analysis provides the monetary estimates how different stakeholders and sectors of the national economy would be affected by REDD+ policies and payments. That’s very helpful for us.” His colleague Rabindra Maharjan adds “that the implementation of REDD has potential co-benefits for Nepal’s poverty reduction strategy by addressing poverty and enhancing the livelihoods of people who are dependent on forests.”

“The workshops are very action oriented. They are designed to help formulate policy frameworks for national Climate Change action. Successful development of REDD+ strategies will require that technical experts understand the importance of opportunity cost of REDD,” said Gerald Kapp Senior REDD specialist at WBI.
WBI will continue its support to the preparation process for REDD by facilitating knowledge exchange and south-south collaboration across several themes that include the costs of REDD, monitoring and verification and benefits sharing. 

Please check the WBI website for upcoming REDD+ workshops.