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10 views on the future of REDD+
Ahead of the UN climate change conference in Paris, Martin Herold together with nine other experts from across the globe give their take in CIFOR Forest News on what's next for REDD+.
Martin Herold
Professor of Geoinformation Science and Remote Sensing
Wageningen University, Netherlands
The fact that 39 countries have included REDD+ in their INDCs (intended nationally determined contributions) indicates that forest and climate change mitigation remain high on the political agenda. If there is an agreement in Paris—and my guess is that there will be—REDD+ will be part of that.
There are still some questions. Most importantly: how does it link to the broader land-use sector? REDD+ will have to evolve toward broader land use and agriculture issues, and link in with issues of adaptation and food security while enhancing forests as a storehouse of carbon and ecosystem services.
More research will be needed to figure out how multiple objectives can be achieved within tropical forest landscapes. Very little is known about how that can actually be done.
The role of forests as a carbon sink is also important. To reduce atmospheric carbon you can reduce emissions—but you can also sequester carbon in growing forests. That will have to get a lot more attention because there is a lot of potential there that is not well quantified and not well understood in the tropical regions.