Impacts of actions under Reduction of Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) – a UN mechanism to stem deforestation and degradation – on biodiversity and carbon vary across forest types and landscape conditions, a new global assessment shows.
Christoph Wildburger, coordinator at GFEP, said that given that REDD+ actions were relatively recent, several knowledge gaps remained.
A key finding was that REDD+ actions have variable impacts on carbon and biodiversity across different forest types and landscape conditions; and across space and time.
Tradeoffs between carbon, biodiversity and social outcomes, at both local and wider spatial scale, would remain. For REDD+ to be effective, local communities need to be engaged early on; social objectives should be pursued along with carbon and biodiversity goals; and tenure and property rights need to be clear, the review found. Without sufficient emphasis on local community participation, there is risk that REDD+ "recentralises government decision-making and undermines community-based forest governance."
'REDD actions can have varying impacts' - SciDev.Net
