REDD+: New mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

(Baonghean) - Recently, in some forums discussing solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, people not only talked a lot but also proposed plans to implement the REDD+ issue. So what is REDD+? How is it related to climate change and forest environment protection?

REDD is the English acronym for “Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation”.

So what is REDD+? According to expert Nguyen Quang Tan - Center for People and Forests Vietnam, REDD+ is an international initiative, providing financial support to developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, through 5 main activities: Limiting deforestation; Limiting forest degradation; Conserving forest carbon stocks; Sustainable management of forest resources; Enhancing forest carbon stocks.

Checking the planted forest area in Khe Tron (Thanh Chuong). Photo archive.

The idea of ​​REDD+ is: Developing countries reduce deforestation and forest degradation to receive financial compensation from a global fund contributed by developed countries. The goal of REDD+ is not only to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also to provide many other benefits such as: Poverty reduction, forestry development, biodiversity conservation...

With the function of releasing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide, forests play a particularly important role in climate change. They both contribute to climate change and are victims of its impacts. Forests also have the potential to become a two-pronged solution in responding to climate change – reducing the causes of climate change and helping society adapt to the impacts of climate change.

For example, preventing deforestation and forest degradation could reduce global CO2 emissions by nearly 20%; sustaining forests helps us adapt by providing valuable ecosystem services. The emergence of REDD+ is an inevitable, objective process.

It was 1992, and governments around the world agreed that global temperatures and weather patterns were changing at an unusually rapid rate. Under the auspices of the United Nations, governments agreed to meet annually to discuss why this was happening and what should be done.

By 1997, most scientists agreed that global temperatures were rising much faster than normal, and that the main reason for this was increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

These greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun and do not allow it to escape back into space, acting as a greenhouse. Greenhouse gases occur naturally, but are also created when oil, coal, and wood are burned for energy.

So as the world's population grows and we use more energy, we also release larger amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most worrying greenhouse gas.

Climate change can harm forest health in a number of ways: Decreased rainfall and increased temperatures can cause droughts – which increase wildfires and reduce forest resources. A damaged forest cannot provide the natural ecosystem services that sustain livelihoods and help people adapt to climate change.

Forests help control soil erosion, provide clean water, and create corridors for wildlife to migrate to more favorable climates. The loss of these services impacts the lives and livelihoods of people who depend on forests.

Forests can also contribute to climate change if they are not managed sustainably. When trees are logged, they become a source of greenhouse gases because all the carbon they store is released as CO2 and the trees are no longer a carbon sink – meaning they can no longer draw CO2 from the biosphere.

There is growing international recognition that if forests are to be integrated into a global climate change solution, developing countries need to be rewarded for their efforts to reduce deforestation (when forests are cleared for conversion to other land uses) and forest degradation (when forest resources are damaged). After all, forested land is valuable – providing timber and the potential to be converted into commercial plantations, or used for agriculture to feed populations.

Financial rewards are needed to ensure that forested land remains as valuable as the forests themselves. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is a mechanism designed to generate these rewards. Under this system, countries measure and monitor CO2 emissions from deforestation and forest degradation within their borders.

After a certain period, countries will calculate their emission reductions and receive a number of marketable forest carbon credits based on these reductions. The credits can then be sold on the global carbon market.

Thus, REDD is about providing financial rewards for avoiding deforestation and forest degradation, creating incentives for sustainable and equitable forest management for poor people living in or near forested areas.

REDD is not a form of discrete benefit distribution, but rather engages and equitably distributes benefits to multiple actors, including local forest managers, forestry officials and local governments, local NGOs and civil society groups involved in forest management, and above all, forest-dependent households. These households have a right to receive benefits from REDD because of their contribution to REDD implementation.

Civil society, NGOs and communities will play an important role in implementing REDD at the local level through sustainable forest management practices. Community forestry will also contribute to the realization of REDD outcomes: improving livelihoods, securing carbon stocks in forests and drawing lessons on sustainable forest management.

Local actors – with some training, can accurately and regularly collect essential information on deforestation and forest degradation through field monitoring. In return, REDD aims to benefit local actors by: Clarifying land tenure and access rights to land and forests; Sustaining forest resources and the livelihoods of forest-dependent people; Honoring them with global recognition as responsible forest stewards.

For all information about the Forest Environmental Services Payment Policy, readers can visithere!

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