UN-REDD+ assists countries to seize innovative opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
Forests are a readily available, effective, and cost-efficient key nature-based solution that can provide up to a third of the mitigation required to keep global warming well below 2°C. Forests have a mitigation potential of over 5 GtCO₂e per year through halting forest loss and degradation and through sustainable forest management, conservation, and restoration (REDD+).
REDD+ is a climate change mitigation solution developed by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Its framework, the Warsaw Framework, was adopted in 2013 at COP 19 in Warsaw and provides methodological and financing guidance for implementing REDD+ activities.
The Paris Climate Agreement recognises REDD+ and the central role of forests in Article 5.
REDD+ reduces deforestation through the conservation and sustainable management of forests and supports developing countries in turning their political commitments, as represented in their Nationally Determined Contributions, into action on the ground.
Forests mitigate climate change because of their capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere and to store it in biomass and soils. When forests are cleared or degraded, they can become a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by releasing the stored carbon. It is estimated that deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 11 per cent of global CO₂ emissions.
To date, 118 countries have included forest and land use in their Nationally Determined Contributions pledges. This represents 162 million hectares of restored, reforested and afforested land, which is in line with the Bonn Challenge and the New York Declaration on forests.
Since 2008, the UN-REDD Programme (led by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Food and Agricultural Organization, and United Nations Development Programme) has supported 65 partner countries in their nationally led efforts to become “REDD+ ready” and qualify for results-based payments.
As of today, UN-REDD countries have submitted forest emissions reductions equal to taking 150 million cars off the road for a year. And UN-REDD has channelled and mobilised more than USD 1 billion since its inception.
Within the UN-REDD Programme, UNEP leads on private-sector engagement, safeguards, knowledge management, and communications.
Key facts
- During 2015–2020, the rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year.
- Currently, 11 per cent of all carbon emissions stem from deforestation – more than emissions from all means of transport combined.
- Limiting climate change to well below 2°C cannot be achieved without REDD+.
- Halting deforestation and forest degradation can avoid emissions of more than 5 gigatons of CO₂e/year.
- Forest conservation and restoration can provide more than one quarter of the emissions reductions needed in the next two decades.
- The goals of the Paris Agreement cannot be met without the world's forests: their mitigation potential by 2030 is about 5 gigatons/year, on par with that of industry and only behind the energy sector.
- Forests, however, are more than that. Protecting the world's forests is crucial to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals: they provide a range of critical ecosystem services, including habitat for biodiversity of global significance and livelihoods for vulnerable and indigenous communities.
- Forests and woodlands are important stores of planet-warming carbon dioxide, soaking up 30 per cent of emissions from industry and fossil fuels. But every year, the world loses 10 million hectares of forests, an area larger than Portugal.
- Deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 11 per cent of carbon emissions. If deforestation were a country, it would rank third in carbon dioxide emissions behind China and the United States of America.
- An annual outlay of USD 1 million in forest management can generate from 500 to 1,000 jobs in many developing countries, and 20 to 100 in most developed and middle-income countries. Investments in forests can become a backbone for COVID-19 recovery efforts in rural economies in developing countries.
For more information, visit UN-REDD or learn more about UNEP's work on forests.
