The research of this component will lead to new knowledge and improved approaches to monitoring carbon stocks and changes, and assessing emission reference levels and REDD+ schemes. CIFOR is designing and testing methods and tools.

The first activity is focusing on improved methods for supporting the establishment of so-called reference emissions levels (RELs) or emissions levels with business as usual development activities. Although defining RELs will ultimately be a political decision taken within the UNFCCC, we are developing a bio-economic modelling framework that will allow countries to model future deforestation and analyse scenarios of plausible future emissions. This analytical tool should help countries determine likely future ranges of emissions with transparent assumptions about known drivers of deforestation.

The second activity is to improve the availability of emissions factors for implementing IPCC methods for national greenhouse gas accounting. Researchers are assessing the current state of knowledge of these factors in target countries and in important forest ecosystems and setting priorities for collection of additional data. They then work with technical services in the countries to collect the needed data to improve accounting. During this work, skills of local researchers in Latin America, Africa, and Asia will be developed in empirical qualitative methods.

Finally, component 3 research works on developing appropriate community-based measurement methods to facilitate participation of local stakeholders in the process. This should increase transparency of REDD+ studies and enhance community ownership of the study outcomes.