REDD+

Geography glossary

Topic: Climate Change: Causes, Evidence and the Global Response · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

REDD+ is a UNFCCC framework that makes results-based payments to developing countries for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. The "+" adds conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (growing more carbon in forests). Countries are paid only after their forest results are measured, reported and verified.

Forests store huge amounts of carbon. REDD+ pays countries to keep that carbon in the trees. This makes forests a source of climate finance and a way to meet a country's NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution: a country's own pledge to cut or limit greenhouse gases).

Explanation

How it works: cause → process → result

  • Cause: cutting forests releases carbon
  • Trees store carbon in their wood, leaves and roots.

  • When forests are cut (deforestation) or damaged (forest degradation), that carbon goes into the air as CO2.

  • Process: paying for proof

  • A developing country protects or grows its forests.
  • It measures how much carbon it has saved or stored.

  • The results are checked through MRV (measurement, reporting and verification) [1].

  • Result: payment

  • After verification, the country gets results-based payments [1].
  • Forests become worth more standing than cut down.

What the name covers: REDD + "plus"

Part Meaning
RED Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (forest land cleared completely)
D ... and forest Degradation (forest still there but thinned or damaged)
+ Conservation Protecting forests that already hold carbon
+ Sustainable management of forests Using forests without running them down
+ Enhancement of forest carbon stocks Increasing the carbon held in forests

Three phases: COP16, Cancun (2010) [1]

  • Phase 1: Readiness. The country builds a strategy and the skills and institutions it needs.
  • Phase 2: Implementation. It carries out policies and pilot actions.
  • Phase 3: Results-based actions. These must be fully measured, reported and verified (MRV) [1].

Rulebook and conditions for payment

  • Warsaw Framework for REDD+ (COP19, Warsaw, Poland, 2013) completed the REDD+ rulebook [2].
  • Finance for REDD+ must be new, additional and predictable. It can come from public or private sources, and from bilateral (country-to-country) or multilateral (through international bodies) channels [1].
  • Two conditions for payment:
  • The results must pass MRV.

  • The country must address safeguards (protecting the rights of forest communities and protecting biodiversity) and report on them [1][2].

  • Paris Agreement, Article 5 asks countries to conserve and enhance sinks (places that take in more carbon than they give out, such as forests and oceans). It directly supports REDD+.

Where it occurs

  • World:
  • REDD+ runs under the UNFCCC.
  • Its base is the Cancun phases (COP16, 2010) [1], the Warsaw Framework (COP19, 2013) [2] and Article 5 of the Paris Agreement (2015).

  • Payments go only to developing countries.

  • India:

  • Draft National REDD+ Policy and Strategy (2014) aimed to fill gaps in skills and institutions and make India "REDD+ ready" [1].
  • National REDD+ Strategy (2018), released by MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change).
  • NDC forest target: an additional carbon sink of 2.5–3 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent by 2030, through more forest and tree cover.
  • Forest cover is tracked in the ISFR (India State of Forest Report) by the FSI (Forest Survey of India). This data supports MRV.

Don't confuse with

  • CDM (Clean Development Mechanism): the old Kyoto Protocol system in which rich countries paid for clean projects in developing countries and earned credits. Paris Article 6.4 replaces it. REDD+ is a separate forest framework that pays for verified forest results.
  • Article 6.2 (ITMOs): countries trade emission cuts with each other through bilateral deals, using corresponding adjustments. REDD+ is forest finance under the Warsaw Framework and Paris Article 5, not Article 6.
  • CCS / CCUS: a technology that captures CO2 from factories or the air and stores it underground. REDD+ uses natural sinks (forests) to keep carbon out of the air.
  • Paris Article 5 vs REDD+: Article 5 is the general call to conserve and enhance all sinks. REDD+ is the specific payment framework for forests in developing countries.

Prelims Hooks

  • Three REDD+ phases (readiness → implementation → results-based actions) were agreed at COP16, Cancun (2010) [1].
  • Warsaw Framework for REDD+ = COP19, Warsaw, Poland (2013). It completed the REDD+ rulebook [2]. Trap: do not mix it up with COP16 (phases) or COP26 (Article 6 rules).
  • The "+" = conservation + sustainable management of forests + enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
  • Payments are results-based and need MRV plus reporting on safeguards [1][2]. REDD+ finance must be new, additional and predictable [1].
  • Paris Agreement Article 5 = sinks and forests (supports REDD+). Article 6 = carbon markets.
  • India: Draft National REDD+ Policy and Strategy 2014 [1]. National REDD+ Strategy 2018 (MoEFCC). NDC sink target: additional 2.5–3 billion tonnes CO2e by 2030.

Mains Points

  • Forests as climate finance (GS-III): REDD+ turns standing forests into a source of money for developing countries. It pays only for measured, reported and verified results [1]. So weak monitoring means no payment, and good forest data (FSI's ISFR) becomes a key need for India.
  • Climate goals and community rights: payment depends on safeguards that protect forest communities and biodiversity [1][2]. This links carbon goals to the rights of forest-dwellers. Protecting forests should not push out the people who depend on them.
  • India's NDC sink target: the 2.5–3 billion tonne CO2e additional sink by 2030 depends on:
  • the quality of afforestation, not just the area planted;
  • protecting forest-dwellers' rights;
  • accurate FSI monitoring.

India has moved from the 2014 draft [1] to the 2018 National REDD+ Strategy. It still needs finance that is new, additional and predictable [1].

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1MoEFCC — Draft National REDD+ Policy and Strategy (2014)moef.gov.in · tier 1
  2. 2UNFCCC — Warsaw Framework for REDD+redd.unfccc.int · tier 2