Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) - Qualitative and quantitative assessment of changes of tropical forests 

Objectives: 

The United Nations declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests. The Theme „Forests For People“ shall show the dependency of men on forests, and raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. The importance of this dependency becomes clear recognizing that according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) about 15 millions of hectares of tropical forests are still destroyed each year. Despite many endeavors of the international community in the negotiations of forest and environmental policy, there are only few achievements to combat the destruction of tropical forests, yet. Since the climate change conference in Bali 2007, REDD is being negotiated as a protective mechanism for tropical forests. The general idea of REDD is to attribute economic value to the carbon stored in forests, and thereby integrate the conservation and protection of forests into economic decision making processes. However, it is not that easy as it sounds: the methodological realization and also the setup of financial resources issue a challenge both for science and for the international community. Fundamental issues are:

• How can be determined, whether and how much deforestation or forest degradation was reduced towards an agreed reference value?  

• What are the causes and types of utilization of forest resources, and which extent do these regionally have? 

To answer these questions, the  vTI was mandated by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV), in order to develop methodological approaches for the implementation of the REDD mechanism. 

Expected Results: 

In the scope of the pilot study in Madagascar certain objectives were identified, which were assessed in the three project parts "Inventory and Monitoring", "Socio-economic Study" and "Economic Study". Within the project part "Inventory and Monitoring" of the Institute for World Forestry an inventory method for the objective periodical determination of deforestation and its resulting release of carbon from a regional to national basis was developed.

The method is based on the use of satellite data in combination with terrestrial inventories. Furthermore contributions on the causes of deforestation and degradation in Madagascar and their potential of reduction were acquired on
a regional level in the project part "socio-economic Study". The Institute of Economics was concerned with national timber balances and approaches for
the development of a baseline. 

An assessment of a country in a given time and cost frame requires a classification of the total area into separable classes (strata). Based on the
IPCC-categories for the Zone "(Sub-)Tropical Forests" a stratification in "wet", "intermediate" and "dry" was achieved and for each strata an assessment area was identified. Combined inventories, integrating both remote sensing and in-situ terrestrial data, were carried out on all three assessment areas. This combined inventory methodology permits the estimation of the above ground biomass of the forests in the assessment areas. Socio-economic causes for deforestation were identified and analysed by means of local interviews and statistical procedures. The results of the pilot study show, that the developed methodology allows reliable conclusions on the forest biomass of a country and the direct and indirect causes for deforestation. These conclusions form a basis for a possible national realisation of REDD.

Scientists: 

Thomas Baldauf, Aziza Rqibate, Jörn Struwe