Natural forests protect against climate change
Inside the Greater Annamites mountains on the border of Vietnam and Laos.
What is REDD?
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is based on a simple idea: reward individuals, communities, projects and countries that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by protecting forests.
If designed properly, REDD can produce a triple dividend – gains for the climate, for biodiversity, and for sustainable development.
WWF is participating in national-level dialogue as the countries of the Greater Mekong work toward REDD and other forest carbon-related opportunities.
Key documents
- Angelsen, A. (ed.) 2008 Moving ahead with REDD: Issues, options and implications. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia.
- Global Canopy Programme (2008). The Little REDD Book.
Links
How can natural forest help combat climate change?
Improved protection and sustainable management of forests can help mitigate climate change impacts and contribute to solutions as nations and communities strive to adapt to an uncertain future.
Climate change is already impacting the Greater Mekong’s diverse natural forests and their resident biodiversity. The diverse tropical forests of the Greater Mekong region include mangroves, lowland and swamp forests, deciduous, evergreen, and montane forests, and are all vulnerable to climate‐related disturbances.
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is one option with huge potential to protect carbon stocks in standing forests over the short term, while these same forests still deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits, both directly through sustainable forest management and, indirectly, through protection of ecosystem services.
In response to climate change, many countries of the region are likely to turn to expensive infrastructure solutions to reduce the vulnerability of their populations to climate change. Drier dry seasons will increase demand for irrigation and reservoirs, while wetter wet seasons and increased incidence of tropical storms will demand flood control and slope stabilization measures. However, these technical solutions must not ignore or supplant the low cost contribution that natural forests already provide.
The region must develop long term plans that integrate natural forests as a part of holistic adaptation strategies, so that natural forests can provide simple, cheap, locally appropriate and effective solutions to protect communities, continue to deliver enhanced ecosystem services upon which these communities depend, while at the same time maintaining future choices for development.
Today, forests in the Greater Mekong cover about 34 percent of the landmass, but store more than 50 percent of the total terrestrial carbon in plant biomass, litter and in the soil. These forests will release considerable Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions if they are not adequately protected.
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is one option with huge potential to protect carbon stocks in standing forests over the short term, while these same forests still deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits, both directly through sustainable forest management and, indirectly, through protection of ecosystem services.
In response to climate change, many countries of the region are likely to turn to expensive infrastructure solutions to reduce the vulnerability of their populations to climate change. Drier dry seasons will increase demand for irrigation and reservoirs, while wetter wet seasons and increased incidence of tropical storms will demand flood control and slope stabilization measures. However, these technical solutions must not ignore or supplant the low cost contribution that natural forests already provide.
The region must develop long term plans that integrate natural forests as a part of holistic adaptation strategies, so that natural forests can provide simple, cheap, locally appropriate and effective solutions to protect communities, continue to deliver enhanced ecosystem services upon which these communities depend, while at the same time maintaining future choices for development.
Headwaters in Quang Nam Province, part of the Central Annamites landscape. This landscape covers part of Vietnam and Laos. This forms part of the Greater Annamites, one of WWF’s Global 200 ecoregions – the richest, rarest, and most diverse natural habitats in the world.
Key documents
- World Bank 2009; Convenient Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth: Ecosystem‐based Approaches to Climate Change.
- CBD&UNEP 2009; Forest Resilience, Biodiversity, and Climate Change
- ITTO 2008; Tropical Forests and Climate Change
