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Reaching an international agreement on an instrument to
Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation
(REDD) – with emphasis on a REDD-Plus variant
that can further incorporate conservation, sustainable
management of forests and enhancement of carbon
stocks – would properly reward the global carbon
sequestration and storage services, as well as help to
maintain other valuable services provided by forests.
Given the considerable amounts of emission reduction
needed, not acting to halt deforestation is not an option;
forests are part of the solution for the climate change crisis.
Expanding REDD to REDD-Plus can increase the mitigation
potential (Zarin et al. 2009), not least because of
the restoration potential of degraded forests: REDD
would only halt further degradation – not incentivise
restoration. Forest protection and restoration also generate
a whole range of co-benefits which – if valued explicitly
– improve the cost-effectiveness ratio of forest carbon
investments (Paterson et al. 2008; Galatowitsch 2009).
A REDD-Plus instrument could create a revenue stream
attractive to national and regional governments, cost-effective
for industrial polluters seeking options to meet their
emission reduction targets and potentially beneficial to
local communities and the rural poor (see Chapter 5). The
approach could be further extended to cover similar services
provided by soils, peatlands and other ecosystems
to fully address greenhouse gasses emissions from land
use changes.
RESPONDING TO THE VALUE OF NATURE
Box 10.9: The ‘colours of carbon’
• ‘Brown carbon’: industrial emissions of greenhouse gases that affect the climate.
• ‘Green carbon’: carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems e.g. plant biomass, soils,
wetlands and pasture and increasingly recognised as a key item for negotiation in the
UNFCCC (in relation to forest carbon and mechanisms such as REDD, REDD-Plus, or LULUCF).
• ‘Blue carbon’: carbon bound in the world’s oceans. An estimated 55% of all carbon in living
organisms is stored in mangroves, marshes, sea grasses, coral reefs and macro-algae.
• ‘Black carbon’: formed through incomplete combustion of fuels and may be significantly
reduced if clean burning technologies are employed.
Past mitigation efforts concentrated on brown carbon, sometimes leading to land conversion for biofuel
production which inadvertently increased emissions from green carbon. By halting the loss of green and
blue carbon, the world could mitigate as much as 25% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with
co-benefits for biodiversity, food security and livelihoods (IPCC 2007, Nellemann et al. 2009).
This will only be possible if mitigation efforts accommodate all four carbon colours.
Source: TEEB Climate Issues Update 2009:14; Nellemann et al. 2009
We also need to prepare for the climate change that
will happen despite mitigation policies. This will require
much more investment in adaptation than is
currently planned (Parry et al. 2009; TEEB-CIU 2009).
A cost-effective part of an adaptation strategy will be
based on broader investments in ecological infrastructure
(see below): protecting against natural
hazards helps to decrease society’s vulnerability and
cushion the impacts of global warming. Policy-makers
need to develop strategies that recognise these risks
Box 10.10: REDD (Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation)
The proposed REDD instrument is based on
payment for carbon storage ecosystem services
and could lead to an estimated halving of deforestation
rates by 2030, cutting emissions by 1.5-2.7
Gt CO2 per year. The estimated costs range from
US$ 17.2 billion to US$ 33 billion/year whilst the
estimated long-term net benefit of this action in
terms of reduced climate change is estimated at
US$ 3.7 trillion in present value terms (Eliasch
2008). Delaying action on REDD would reduce
its benefits dramatically: waiting 10 more years
could reduce the net benefit of halving deforestation
by US$ 500 billion (see Chapter 5).
Sources: Eliasch 2008; McKinsey 2008
TEEB FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLICY MAKERS - CHAPTER 10: PAGE 14