Deforestation and forest degradation are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) as a likely component of a global post-Kyoto regime, i.e. after 2012, implies operational and cost efficient monitoring methodologies for providing reliable estimates of the respective forest biomass and carbon pools. Presently, methodologies to observe biomass and carbon stock change in the world’s forest area are studied. To be cost effective, integrated methods, utilizing terrestrial surveys and remote sensing data, are widely applied. Suitable methods providing tolerable information on forest biomass change are available for assessing deforestation, which can be defined as the complete removal of a forest area. However, for detecting degradation, which in the context of REDD applies to the partial loss of biomass, even the adoption of existing methods encounters severe constraints. Here we present a comprehensive methodology, which is intended to provide figures on both deforestation and forest degradation in the scope of REDD. The conceptual work for this methodology will be the main focus for this presentation.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
FAO

Region
Global

Biome
All

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted), Degraded forest

Primary Designated Function
All