GCS-REDD: Global Comparative Study on REDD
REDD offers the potential for a steady stream of revenue to be channelled to developing countries if they can show a measurable reduction in deforestation and forest degradation. This is new ground. Such large scale payments contingent on forest conservation and sustainable management are unprecedented. Learning by doing is the only option. CIFOR's Global Comparative Study on REDD is a major step in this learning process. Over four years, the project aims to identify what works in REDD initiatives at national and sub-national levels. At least nine countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia will be included in the study over the four years.
Click Africa, Asia, or Latin America for early GCS-REDD Survey results
During the first year the project is working in six countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Tanzania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Knowledge from the project will help existing REDD initiatives to improve and adapt their management, and will inform the next generation of REDD projects, post-2012.
To assess what works, CIFOR and its partners have developed a set of three criteria against which REDD designs can be evaluated. Known as the 3Es, these criteria are:
- effectiveness: is the mechanism achieving its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets?
- efficiency: is the target achieved at minimum cost?
- equity: how are costs and benefits distributed, both between and within nations, and what other co-benefits are generated?
| SHEILA WERTZ-KANOUNNIKOFF ON THE GLOBAL REDD SURVEY AND POLICY IMPACT |
WHAT WILL THE GLOBAL COMPARATIVE STUDY ON REDD DO?
The success of REDD initiatives is determined at a number of levels, from policy and strategy design, to implementation and measuring benefits on the ground. The Global Study is divided into three major components to cover these levels.
The first component will examine national REDD strategies that are already being developed in a number of countries. Research under this component will identify factors in the strategy formulation process that influence 'sustainable' REDD policy and strategy outcomes. Thus, it aims to identify the minimum governance conditions—such as accountability, transparency and participation—for ensuring effective, efficient and equitable REDD policy outputs and long-term impacts. This involves looking at the policy formulation process, the content of the strategy itself and the implementation framework. Where enough progress has been made, the study will also look at the outcomes and impacts of the strategy.
The second component of the study will look at the short-term outcomes in 20-30 globally representative REDD demonstration sites in 9-12 countries, and assess them for effectiveness, efficiency and equity. Twelve candidate countries have been proposed for inclusion in the study: Brazil, Bolivia, Guyana and Panama in Latin America; the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Ghana in Africa; and Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Nepal and Laos in Asia. Researchers will collect data before REDD project activities begin and after three to four years of implementation at project sites and comparable, non-project, control sites. A range of indicators will be assessed to cover social, economic and biophysical impacts of the REDD projects allowing changes in carbon stocks, human welfare and other outcomes to be tracked. This component aims to learn how REDD sites can be designed to ensure they fulfil the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and equity, and attain other co-benefits such as poverty alleviation, biodiversity conservation and improved local governance.
The third component will develop better and more cost-effective methods for measuring and monitoring carbon stocks in forests. It also aims to provide improved methods for the establishment of reference emissions levels—the baseline, business-as-usual emission rate against which improvements in emissions will be measured. The study will develop a bio-economic modelling framework that will allow countries to model future deforestation and analyze future emissions scenarios. Based on six detailed case studies in countries with contrasting biophysical and socioeconomic conditions, the main output from this component will be a user-friendly project design support manual. As well as developing technological methods, like those based on remotely sensed data, this component will also test participatory carbon inventory approaches with communities. This could open the door to greater participation of communities in REDD financial schemes, as well as potentially lowering monitoring costs.
A key goal throughout the Global Comparative REDD Study is to share information and knowledge in forms that are easy to access and use. In particular, the project aims to provide REDD policymakers and practitioners with knowledge about what works in policy formulation and implementation to help them achieve outcomes that are effective, efficient and equitable.
