Browsing by Author "Danielsen, Finn"

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At the heart of REDD+: a role for local people in monitoring forests?
(Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 2011) Danielsen, Finn; Skutsch, Margaret; Burgess, Neil D; Jensen, Per Moestrup; Andrianandrasana, Herizo; Karky, Bhaskar; Lewis, Richard; Lovett, Jon C; Ngaga, Yonika; Phartiyal, Pushkin; Poulsen, Michael Køie; Singh, S. P; Solis, Silvia; Sørensen, Marten; Tewari, Ashish; Young, Richard; Zahabu, Eliakimu
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) is a policy mechanism now agreed under the United Na- tions Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from developing countries through the sustainable management of forests, while providing co-benefits of biodiversity conserva- tion and livelihood support. Implementation challenges include linking remote sensing and national forest inventories of carbon stocks, to local implementa- tion and measuring carbon loss from forest degradation. Community-based forest monitoring can help overcome some of these challenges. We show that local people can collect forest condition data of comparable quality to trained scientists, at half the cost. We draw on our experience to propose how and where local REDD+ monitoring can be established. Empowering communities to own and monitor carbon stocks could provide a rapid and cost-effective way of absorbing carbon dioxide emissions, while potentially contributing to local livelihoods and forest biodiversity conservation.
Getting ready for REDD+ in Tanzania: a case study of progress and challenges
(Fauna & Flora International, 2010) Dalsgaard, SØren; Funder, Mikkel; Hagelberg, Niklas; Harrison, Paul; Haule, Christognus; Kabalimu, Kekilia; Kilahama, Felician; Kilawe, Edward; Lewis, Simon L.; Lovett, Jon C.; Lyatuu, Gertrude; Marshall, Andrew R.; Meshack, Charles; Miles, Lera; Milledge, Simon A.H.; Munishi, Pantaleo K.T.; Nashanda, Evarist; Shirima, Deo; Swetnam, Ruth D.; Willcock, Simon; Williams, Andrew; Zahabu, Eliakim; Burgess, Neil D.; Bahane, Bruno; Clairs, Tim; Danielsen, Finn
The proposed mechanism for Reducing Emis- sions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) offers significant potential for conserving forests to reduce negative impacts of climate change. Tanzania is one of nine pilot countries for the United Nations REDD Pro- gramme, receives significant funding from the Norwegian, Finnish and German governments and is a participant in the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. In combination, these interventions aim to mitigate green-house gas emissions, provide an income to rural commu- nities and conserve biodiversity. The establishment of the UN-REDD Programme in Tanzania illustrates real-world challenges in a developing country. These include currently inadequate baseline forestry data sets (needed to calculate reference emission levels), inadequate government capacity and insufficient experience of implementing REDD+-type measures at operational levels. Additionally, for REDD+ to succeed, current users of forest resources must adopt new practices, including the equitable sharing of benefits that accrue from REDD+ implementation. These challenges are being addressed by combined donor support to im- plement a national forest inventory, remote sensing of forest cover, enhanced capacity for measuring, reporting and verification, and pilot projects to test REDD+ imple- mentation linked to the existing Participatory Forest Man- agement Programme. Our conclusion is that even in a country with considerable donor support, progressive forest policies, laws and regulations, an extensive network of managed forests and increasingly developed locally-based forest management approaches, implementing REDD+ pre- sents many challenges. These are being met by coordinated, genuine partnerships between government, non-government and community-based agencies.