Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is a term give to schemes that seek to promote the sustainable use of land through maintaining the capacity of that land to sustain biodiversity and to act as a sink of carbon dioxide. Schemes are often focussed on securing protective property rights to areas of threatened forestry, which may specify the levels of deforestation that is permitted and any associated re-planting requirements. On an ongoing basis, the management of REDD projects requires the monitoring of whether these rights are being properly enforced. This presents challenges on what are often large, remote areas of land.
REDD+ takes the concept of REDD further, through working with local communities to re-structure local economies to promote sustainable forms of land use, as well as implementing structures to conserve forest carbon stocks. These schemes therefore extend to promote the development of the local economy and communities, in addition to the environmental benefits associated with forest conservation.
To create a financial incentive to promote the implementation of REDD+ projects, a number of standards have been developed to monitor, report and verify emission reductions from REDD+ programmes, such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard. These standards can be used to issue Voluntary Emission Reduction certificates (VERs), which have a value to those who want to offset emissions with savings elsewhere, such as in corporate social responsibility programmes run by corporations.
