As countries increasingly qualify for payments under the REDD+ process and schemes in return for reducing their emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, a new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UN-REDD highlights the need for legal clarity on who owns emission reductions and who is entitled to benefit from those payments.    The publication, entitled Comparative study of carbon rights in the context of jurisdictional REDD+: Case studies from Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean explains that since the Warsaw framework for REDD+ was established in 2013, verified emission reductions derived from forests have effectively become...

In a recent study published in the International Forestry Review, researchers from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Forest Research Institute in Myanmar have revealed insights into the carbon density of the country's mangrove forests. The article, titled "Mangrove Biomass and Carbon Estimates for REDD+ from National Forest Inventory in Two Regions of Myanmar," confirms the assumption that mangroves are much more efficient and effective in carbon storage than most other forest types.  Myanmar boasts the second-largest area of mangrove forests in Southeast Asia. Despite this, the region has experienced high deforestation rates and forest...

Experts from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru met in the   Amazon city of Florencia (Colombia) Forest degradation generates large carbon emissions (34% of forest sector emissions, FAO 2020). Preventing forest degradation reduces emissions while safeguarding forest ecosystem health and maximizes forest productivity to community livelihoods and the broader economy. Estimating carbon emissions and removals from forest degradation is thus a requirement to participate in new climate finance opportunities.  UN-REDD Programme with the technical support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization  (FAO) and the SilvaCarbon program - Latin America and the Caribbean region,  brought together 23...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is conducting a survey open for the participation of respondents from all types of financial institutions and all relevant functions and working levels. The goal is getting information about what frameworks, guidance, and datasets financial institutions use to tackle deforestation in financial portfolios. The survey's results will support the definition of a pathway for mainstreaming deforestation-free finance and enabling financial institutions to improve how to address growing public concern and compliance pressures on deforestation. Take the survey by 15 January 2024 at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/faogcsurvey Respondents: All types of financial institutions from all relevant functions and working...

As countries strive to meet international reporting requirements to develop more robust National Forest Monitoring Systems, including reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation  (REDD+), the importance of National Forest Inventories (NFIs) cannot be underestimated. This systematic collection, analysis and reporting of forest data, plays a pivotal role in providing estimates on relevant variables about characteristics of forests and forested landscapes for a whole country or a subnational administrative or geographic entity, including emission factors for calculating forest-related greenhouse gas emissions and removals. Beyond their carbon-focused function, NFIs provide vital insights into forest biodiversity, health, management, and use, empowering countries...