Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in developing countries (REDD)
 BirdLife International/Marco Lambertini
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In climate terms, tropical deforestation accounts about 15-20% of all human-induced emissions every year, roughly the same volume of greenhouse gas emissions as produced by the USA or China.
The conservation of natural forests is essential in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Restoration of natural forest can assist in helping restore carbon-dense stocks. Emissions from tropical deforestation account for 15-20% of all human-induced emissions. These emissions are greater than those of all cars, trucks, planes, ships and trains worldwide If tropical deforestation were to continue at its present rate, resulting in almost total forest clearance within a few decades, this would add as much as 400,000,000,000 tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere, increase the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide by about 100ppm, and result in an increase in global mean surface temperatures of about 0.6 º. At current rates of deforestation there is, in other words, no chance of staying below a two degree mean global temperature rise.
There is a need for effective mechanisms to maintain and restore these carbon stocks. Under negotiation within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as REDD – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation - forested developing countries would undertake to reduce their emissions from deforestation below a historic reference level, and would be financially compensated for doing so.
The loss of natural tropical forests is a catastrophe for the world’s biodiversity. Tropical forests are the most ecologically rich of all forest types. They are home to 70% of the world’s plants and animals, more than 13 million distinct species. Deforestation is also a disaster for the many thousands of people who live in and depend on tropical forests, and yet they have little say in their fate, and rarely benefit from their destruction.
REDD should prioritise conservation of natural tropical forests because they are the most carbon dense, and must exclude conversion of natural forests to industrial forests or plantations. REDD must include provisions which ensure conservation of biodiversity because it is the plants and animals in natural forests that help create their carbon density. REDD must respect, support and promote the rights of local and indigenous peoples.
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