The problem

Climate change and biodiversity loss are global challenges that affect all our futures. Decision makers are faced with developing and implementing solutions at both international and national levels. One such effort under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is REDD+, which is intended to provide financial incentives for developing countries to reduce CO2 emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and to conserve, manage and enhance existing forest carbon stocks, as a contribution to mitigating climate change.

Action on REDD+ has the potential to help countries achieve other policy goals in addition to emissions reduction. It could also contribute to biodiversity conservation and enabling the sustainable use of forest resources, which are key objectives for parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The degree to which REDD+ does deliver benefits beyond the protection of forest carbon stocks, and the potential synergies with CBD objectives, will depend on which policy measures are selected to advance REDD+ objectives, and how and where they are implemented. Making sound decisions that achieve multiple objectives requires access to, and application of good information on the extent and distribution of existing forests, biodiversity, other ecosystem services, and the geographical patterns of land-use change and its drivers.

Our solution & impact

UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre is currently working with national and international partners, through the UN-REDD Programme and the REDD-PAC project, to support a range of countries in their REDD+ planning and implementation. We help countries to assess the linkages between their REDD+ policies and safeguards, and other policy objectives, including National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Maps and innovative analysis of spatial information play a large role in this support.

We contribute to the UN-REDD Programme by leading UN Environments technical support to countries on multiple benefits and safeguards. We assist national governments in developing decision-making tools that support REDD+ planning. Our activities include:

• Working with national teams to identify and map the most valued national benefits from REDD+, such as biodiversity conservation and soil erosion control. We aim to build national capacity and work together to produce accessible, useful outputs. Countries include: Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Kenya, Mongolia, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda and Viet Nam. 
• Developing interactive spatial and economic tools to help ensure that decisions account for the costs and benefits of different REDD+ actions. Countries include: Cambodia, Peru and the Republic of Congo.
• Working collaboratively with partner agencies to develop resources on the UNFCCC safeguards for REDD+, and supporting the development of countries’ approaches to addressing and respecting the safeguards and plans for safeguard information systems. Countries include: Bhutan, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay and Uganda.

The REDD-PAC project, a collaboration between the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and the Central African Forestry Commission (COMIFAC), aims to support the identification of REDD+ policies that are economically efficient, socially fair, can safeguard and enhance ecosystem values, and can help meet CBD goals. Activities within the project have included:

• Work with project partners and other national colleagues to adapt and apply the global economic model GLOBIOM to enable an assessment of how the possible impacts of public policy in Brazil would impact emissions, agricultural production and biodiversity. The resulting GLOBIOM-Brazil model was validated using improved national data and its findings were taken into account by Brazilian decision makers when developing the country's intended nationally determined contribution (INDC), submitted to UNFCCC COP-21 in Paris in 2015. 
• Work with COMIFAC and national colleagues in three Congo Basin countries to support national and regional REDD+ policy development and NBSAP development in the Congo Basin. Work has included both the development of an atlas of carbon and biodiversity and the application of land-use change modelling to explore the impacts of regionally appropriate policy options and scenarios. Workshops have brought together the CBD and REDD+ national focal points. The work has helped enable countries to take the contribution and impacts of REDD+ into consideration when developing their NBSAPs and related policies. 
• Work with partners in China, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda, and Viet Nam to produce maps that can be used as decision-making tools to support planning for REDD+ that delivers multiple benefits specific to country needs. 

Expertise & Team

The UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre team carrying out this work have significant experience in supporting countries in creating, using and managing spatial information and developing decision-support tools on biodiversity and climate change. They have a broad range of experience in REDD+ policy, biodiversity, ecology, forestry and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Lera Miles coordinates the Centre’s work with the UN-REDD Programme and Rebecca Mant coordinates the Centre’s work on the REDD-PAC project. Corinna Ravilious is the lead GIS specialist. The work is supported by the whole of the Centre’s Climate Change and Biodiversity team.

Lera Miles

Senior Programme Officer

Corinna Ravilious

Senior GIS Officer