Forests play a dual role in climate change. Forests can be a source of greenhouse gases, emitting carbon dioxide to the atmosphere when they are burned or destroyed, and forests can also act as a “sink,” removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in their biomass as they grow. In fact, the terrestrial carbon sink, which includes soils, trees and other vegetation, soaks up as much as half of all GHG emissions from fossil fuels each year, significantly slowing the buildup of climate-warming gases in our atmosphere. Since the thirteenth UNFCC Conference of Parties (Cop 13) and the third Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC in Bali in 2007, REDD+, in all its facets, has been embraced with flavour rarely witnessed in environmental circles. Currently, there appears to be a consensus that the issue of deforestation and forest degradation must be addressed as a low cost option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid an increase in temperature beyond acceptable levels. This book comes out at the time when Climate change has received much attention and REDD+ in particular has been given recognition at the Paris COP 21,2015 Climate Accord in Article 5 para 2 which states; “Parties are encouraged to take action to implement and support, including through results-based payments, the existing framework as set out in related guidance and decisions already agreed under the Convention for: policy approaches and positive incentives for activities relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries; and alternative policy approaches, such as joint mitigation and adaptation approaches for the integral and sustainable management of forests, while reaffirming the importance of incentivizing, as appropriate, non-carbon benefits associated with such approaches.” As one of the countries with a higher rate of deforestation and forest degradation, Tan¬zania also contributes high CO2 emissions per annum through deforestation estimated to be in the order of 78 million tons and forest degradation of about 48 million tons amounting to a total of 126 million tons CO2 emissions per year (Zahabu, 2008). The country has therefore decided to embark upon a national REDD+ program to manage its forests sustainably while responding to poverty reduction and sustainable development needs. Similarly, REDD+ issues are being mainstreamed into national development plan¬ning through the National REDD+ strategy.
This book is an output from the research programme Climate Change Impact, Adaptaition and Mitigation (CCIAM) funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania.