Skip to content
Menu
REDD-Monitor
  • Start here
  • About REDD-Monitor
  • REDD: An introduction
  • Contact
REDD-Monitor

“The REDD+ mechanism will not be enough to curb deforestation in Central Africa”: CIFOR

Posted on 23 April 201523 April 2015
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Email this to someone
email

“Enforcing sustainable logging and assigning a monetary value to the carbon stored in forest concessions managed under the REDD+ mechanism will not be enough to curb deforestation in Central Africa.”

That’s from CIFOR’s Forest News Blog, in a post about a recent study carried out by the Center for International Forestry Research and CIRAD, a French agricultural and development research organisation. The researchers looked at two countries: Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.

They were not looking at whether REDD could compete with the expansion of agricultural concessions. Instead, they were looking at whether “sustainably managed” logging concessions that trades REDD carbon credits could compete with agricultural concessions. Here’s translation of the conclusion from the Executive Summary of the report:

Operating a hectare of forest appears to be a much less profitable than most cash crops (except cocoa in Cameroon), especially as it “freezes” a very large forest area, since the operation occurs on only 1/30th of the total area of ​​the concession each year. REDD+ pilot studies carried out by FORAFAMA project in concessions in Cameroon and the Congo indicate that reducing greenhouse gas emissions can at best generate a profit of 5,500 FCFA/ha/year, a net present value around 60,000 FCFA per hectare. If we add to that the profit derived from sustainable exploitation of timber, forest concession remains a much less attractive option from a financial point of view than most cash crops. The REDD+ mechanism is not today an approach that enables forest concessions to withstand better this type of agricultural pressure.

One of the authors of the report is Guillaume Lescuyer, a CIRAD scientist working with CIFOR. On the CIFOR Forests News Blog, he comments that,

“Unfortunately, with the current prices on the carbon markets, REDD+ does not bring significant additional benefits. It is more promising to look at agroforestry or artisanal logging to be combined with industrial logging to enhance the financial values of concessions.”

The report calculates the net present value of various land uses in Cameroon:

Land use Net present value (US$)
per hectare
Rubber (industrial plantation) 8,045
Rubber (smallholder) 3,759
Oil palm (industrial plantation) 2,999
Oil palm (smallholder) 5,699
Cocoa (smallholder) 427
Timber (from “sustainably managed” concession) 1,408
REDD 113

Lescuyer notes that,

“For REDD+ to be able to come to the rescue of the forests in the region, there is a need for the value for carbon on the global market to increase dramatically.”

The chances of that happening any time soon seem slim, to say the least.

5-US-dollar-note

In June 2014, at a meeting of the World Bank’s FCPF Carbon Fund, participants noted “their current willingness to pay up to US$5/t CO2e”. While this is not a final decision that the price of carbon under the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility will be US$5, it is a clear statement that countries paying for REDD won’t pay more than US$5 per tonne.

The Carbon Fund’s 12th meeting takes place next week. The price of carbon is not on the agenda, although Cameroon will be making an “Early Ideas” presentation on its Emission Reductions Program Idea Note. The presentation makes no mention of the price of carbon.
 


PHOTO credit: Rubber plantation in southern Cameroon, CIRAD.
 

Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Email this to someone
email

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

SUBSCRIBE!

Enter your email address to receive notification of new posts.

Recent themes
Natural Climate Solutions
WWF's conservation scandals
Aviation and offsetting
Conservation Watch

REDDisms

“And while we recognise that there are still a lot of poor people in rural areas, when we talk about countries like China, India and Brazil they are not developing countries in the sense the Solomon Islands or Mali or Malawi are. So I think we need some more distinctions in the debate. The time must end when the emerging economies account for more and more emissions, have more and more of global growth but can continue to hide behind the label of ‘developing country’.”

— Connie Hedegaard, EU Climate Action Commissioner, September 2011

Recent Posts

  • Anatomy of a ‘Nature-Based Solution’: Total oil, 40,000 hectares of disappearing African savannah, Emmanuel Macron, Norwegian and French ‘aid’ to an election-rigging dictator, trees to burn, secret contacts, and dumbstruck conservationists
  • Coalition for Rainforest Nations announces sale of 6,106 REDD credits from Papua New Guinea to Blackstone Energy Services
  • Carbonballs: Nigel Farage, carbon offset lobbyist
  • Kevin Conrad signs REDD deal with Papua New Guinea
  • Court of Appeal upholds conviction of Paul Moore, Michael Moore, and Haydon Driscoll, the men behind the Burbank of London carbon credit investment scam

Recent Comments

  • Rosa on Anatomy of a ‘Nature-Based Solution’: Total oil, 40,000 hectares of disappearing African savannah, Emmanuel Macron, Norwegian and French ‘aid’ to an election-rigging dictator, trees to burn, secret contacts, and dumbstruck conservationists
  • Sena Alouka on Anatomy of a ‘Nature-Based Solution’: Total oil, 40,000 hectares of disappearing African savannah, Emmanuel Macron, Norwegian and French ‘aid’ to an election-rigging dictator, trees to burn, secret contacts, and dumbstruck conservationists
  • Mattias Hjort on Anatomy of a ‘Nature-Based Solution’: Total oil, 40,000 hectares of disappearing African savannah, Emmanuel Macron, Norwegian and French ‘aid’ to an election-rigging dictator, trees to burn, secret contacts, and dumbstruck conservationists
  • Floyd Robinson on Anatomy of a deal: The April Salome REDD project in Papua New Guinea
  • Abel Ateu on The return of the carbon cowboys: How NIHT Inc failed to get free, prior and informed consent for REDD in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

Issues and Organisations

AB 32 Boiler rooms Bonn California Can REDD save ... ? Carbon accounting Carbon Credits Carbon Offsets CDM Conservation-Watch Conservation International COP21 Paris Deforestation FCPF FERN Financing REDD Forest definition Fossil fuels FPP Friends of the Earth FSC Greenpeace Guest post ICAO Illegal logging Indigenous Peoples Natural Climate Solutions NGO statements Plantations Poznan R-M interview REDD and rights REDD in the news Risk RSPO-Watch Safeguards Sengwer Sustainable Forest Management The Nature Conservancy Ulu Masen UN-REDD UNFCCC World Bank WRM WWF

Countries

Australia Bolivia Brazil Cambodia Cameroon Canada China Colombia Congo Basin region DR Congo Ecuador El Salvador European Union France Germany Guatemala Guyana Honduras India Indonesia Kenya Laos Luxembourg Madagascar Malaysia Mexico Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Republic of Congo Sweden Tanzania Thailand Uganda UK Uncategorized United Arab Emirates USA Vietnam West Papua
©2021 REDD-Monitor | Powered by WordPress and Superb Themes!