Modalities for REDD+ Reference Levels: Technical and Procedural Issues

Abstract

Reference levels (RLs) are essential in two ways for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, and the Role of Conservation of Forest Carbon Stocks, Sustainable Management of Forests and Enhancement of Forest Carbon Stocks (REDD+).RLs may be developed to encompass the three land-use categories described by the Good Practice Guidance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, namely: forests converted to other lands (covering deforestation); other lands converted to forest (covering expansion of forest carbon stocks by afforestation or reforestation); and forests remaining as forest (covering forest degradation, sustainable management of forests, and conservation of forest carbon stocks -although the latter raises particular challenges because, by definition, it cannot be assigned a rate of carbon flux).