Rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be needed if the nations of the world are to succeed in reducing the risks of climate change. Globally, tropical deforestation and land-use change causes approximately 15% of annual GHG emissions. Many scientists, economists, and policymakers agree that reducing tropical deforestation can significantly reduce GHG emissions in a cost-effective manner. Because the development of a new international climate treaty that could take effect when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period sunsets at the end of this year continues to be delayed, efforts now are under way outside the formal international negotiations conducted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to realize the potential for reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation and additional forest carbon sequestration (REDD+) activities to reduce near-term GHG emissions.
One of the most promising alternative pathways to begin to realize this potential and provide proof-of-concept that REDD+ could become an important source of low-cost, high-volume GHG emissions offsets is the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF). The GCF is composed of representatives from 16 states and provinces of Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and the United States, including 14 states and provinces located in tropical forest nations that are developing jurisdiction-wide REDD+ programs capable of coming into alignment with California's new statewide GHG cap-and-trade program and other emerging market and non-market opportunities.
This report reviews the status of these REDD+ programs, assesses progress made toward the development of nine essential components of REDD+ programs, and evaluates the potential of these programs to provide high-quality GHG emissions offsets that could be used for compliance purposes in emerging GHG cap-and-trade systems in California and elsewhere or transferred into other systems of performance-based compensation.
The report presents four detailed case studies of evolving REDD+ programs. It includes the two states (Acre, Brazil, and Chiapas, Mexico) that have signed a memorandum of understanding to link their REDD+ programs with California's new GHG cap-and-trade system. It also includes the state that has achieved the greatest emissions reductions (Mato Grosso, Brazil) and one of the most mature REDD+ programs in Indonesia (Aceh).