Launched in Bogor, Indonesia on 25 May 2009, the REDD-ALERT project seeks to better understand the socio-economic drivers and impacts of deforestation and provide policy options for emissions reduction.
REDD-ALERT, which stands for “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation through Alternative Landuses in Rainforests of the Tropics,” aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through addressing deforestation in tropical areas by understanding socio-economic drivers and impacts, and providing policy options for emissions reduction. The project is being implemented by international and national-level partners in Europe, Asia and Africa (listed below).
To mark the project launch, the World Agroforestry Centre held a seminar involving key partners and stakeholders, inviting them to share lessons and expertise on the topic and provide input into the intended deliverables.
Scientists from the REDD-Alert project in Jambi, Indonesia, where carbon-rich peatlands are being drained for profitable oilpalm plantations. Photo: V. Meadu
The three-year project aims to make a significant contribution to the evaluation of mechanisms that translate international-level agreements into instruments that will help change the behavior of the people at the ‘coal-face’, while minimizing adverse repercussions on their livelihoods.
The focal areas for the project – Indonesia, Vietnam, Cameroon, and Peru – represent the main areas of tropical forest land use change in the world today.
REDD-ALERT builds on the ongoing work of the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins, which has been focusing since 1994 on local and global causes and consequences of deforestation by small-scale farmers. The project will also bring in partners with experience in international climate policy analysis, deforestation drivers, greenhouse gas flux measurement and human-environment modeling.
At the workshop, participants discussed the main elements of the project, including:
1. Drivers of change in the forest/agroforest transition
2. Aboveground carbon stock accounting and abatement cost curves
3. Belowground carbon and greenhouse gas emissions of major land use options in the tropical forest margins
4. International negotiations on REDD regimes
5. Linking incentives, drivers, emissions and accountability
6. Combining fairness and efficiency across scales.
There is growing recognition that emissions from land use changes (accounting for an estimated 20% of total emissions) are not negligible, but the current Afforestation / Reforestation Clean Development Mechanisms (A/R CDM) are not effective in addressing the issue. Although reducing deforestation is a cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions relatively quickly, many elements in making a mechanism to reduce emissions from land use changes work are largely missing, despite the pressing need of alternative mechanisms as the Kyoto Protocol approaches its end in 2012.
The biggest shortcoming is the ‘missing link’ between agreed national level targets under international level REDD rules and changes in the behavior of indigenous people, farmers, ranchers, and loggers who live on the land. New ways to link the technical and institutional advances on REDD to local stakeholders are needed so that the various scenarios considered reflect local ambitions and response options.
REDD-ALERT seeks to understand what influences value systems and attitudes to deforestation, how these attitudes influence and determine individual and societal behavior in deforestation, and finally, how this behavior influences greenhouse gas emissions. These findings will be interpreted in respect of current and future UNFCCC policies on deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, and also in the broader global context of the sustainable use of tropical forests.
The REDD-ALERT project is funded by the European Union under its 7th Framework Programme: Climate Change, Pollution, and Risks.
REDD-Alert Partners
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI)
Department of Geography, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (UCL)
The Free University of Amsterdam (VU)
University Of Göttingen (UGOE)
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)
Indonesian Soil Research Institute (ISRI)
Research Centre for Forest Ecology and Environment, Vietnam (RCFEE)
Institut de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement, Cameroon (IRAD)
Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agraria, Peru (INIA)
Plus – read more about the launch in the Scotsman: Scots scientists join global inquiry on forests’ carbon emissions – Scotsman.com News.
Written by: ASB Blog Editor
