TY - JOUR

T1 - A global evaluation of the effectiveness of voluntary REDD+ projects at reducing deforestation and degradation in the moist tropics

AU - Coutiño, Alejandro Guizar

AU - Jones, Julia P.G.

AU - Balmford, Andrew

AU - Carmenta, Rachel

AU - Coomes, David A.

PY - 2022/12/1

Y1 - 2022/12/1

N2 - Abstract Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) projects aim to contribute to climate change mitigation by protecting and enhancing carbon stocks in tropical forests, but there are no systematic global evaluations of their impact. Using a new data set for tropical humid forests, we used a standardised evaluation approach to quantify the performance of a representative sample of 40 voluntary REDD+ certified under the Verified Carbon Standard, located in nine countries. In the first five years of implementation, deforestation within project areas was reduced by 47954–68 compared with matched counterfactual pixels, while degradation rates were 58959–63. Reductions were small in absolute terms but greater in sites located in high deforestation settings, and did not appear to be substantially undermined by leakage activities in forested areas within 10-km of project boundaries. At COP26 the international community renewed its commitment to tackling tropical deforestation as a nature-based solution to climate change. Our results indicate that incentivising forest conservation through voluntary site-based projects can slow tropical deforestation; they also highlight the particular importance of targeting financing to areas at greater risk of deforestation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

AB - Abstract Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) projects aim to contribute to climate change mitigation by protecting and enhancing carbon stocks in tropical forests, but there are no systematic global evaluations of their impact. Using a new data set for tropical humid forests, we used a standardised evaluation approach to quantify the performance of a representative sample of 40 voluntary REDD+ certified under the Verified Carbon Standard, located in nine countries. In the first five years of implementation, deforestation within project areas was reduced by 47954–68 compared with matched counterfactual pixels, while degradation rates were 58959–63. Reductions were small in absolute terms but greater in sites located in high deforestation settings, and did not appear to be substantially undermined by leakage activities in forested areas within 10-km of project boundaries. At COP26 the international community renewed its commitment to tackling tropical deforestation as a nature-based solution to climate change. Our results indicate that incentivising forest conservation through voluntary site-based projects can slow tropical deforestation; they also highlight the particular importance of targeting financing to areas at greater risk of deforestation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

KW - carbon

KW - ecosystem services

KW - forest loss

KW - impact evaluation

KW - matching

KW - nature-based solutions

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13970

DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13970

M3 - Article

VL - 36

JO - Conservation Biology

JF - Conservation Biology

SN - 0888-8892

IS - 6

M1 - e13970

ER -