The third edition of the Methods and Guidance Document (MGD) is soon to be released by the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI). MGD3.0 is currently being reviewed by a team of world leading experts in forest monitoring.

The MGD provides practical guidance on the development and operation of national forest monitoring systems (NFMS) and associated emissions measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) procedures. The MGD, and its online platform REDDcompass, provide user-friendly guidance for addressing UNFCCC decisions with IPCC good-practice guidance. The MGD has been developed and vetted by the a broad community of experts and has become an essential resource for forest monitoring practitioners worldwide.

MGD 2.0 was released in 2016. Since then, the document has been downloaded more than 9000 times by users in more than 50 countries. 300 users per month are accessing MGD resources online through the REDDcompass platform.

MGD3.0 will include extensive updates and is scheduled for release by mid-year. The draft currently under review by experts was completed following an authors’ meeting took place this February in Bilbao. The update is aimed at ensuring the document continues to provide up to date and relevant information.

Key areas addressed by the Edition 3 update include:

• the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2019 Refinement
• relevant new decisions from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process
• advances in data and methods and
• experiences from countries in applying methods.

The Lead Author Group in charge of the update is composed by representatives from GFOI partners, namely Maria Jose Sanz-Sanchez (GFOI MGD Advisory Group Chair, Basque Centre for Climate Change), Carly Green (GFOI MGD Component Manager), Pontus Olofsson (SilvaCarbon, Boston University), Rob Waterworth (Australia, Mullion Group) and Andres Espejo (World Bank). Many more authors and reviewers have been involved in producing the materials for this update and previous versions. GFOI sends a big thank you to all who have committed their time to this important resource.

Stay tuned with GFOI for the upcoming release!

Download the MGD Edition 2.0: English │ French │ Spanish

Access the REDDcompass platform

Take a look at the work of the GFOI MGD Component

Read more on the MGD Authors meeting in Bilbao: Update of the methods and guidance to better track forests worldwide