A Pan African Climate Justice Alliance’s Journey of Empowering African Civil Societies
Consolidation Of Lessons Learnt from The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Capacity Building Program (CBP) on REDD+ In Africa
- Project Context: Forests & REDD+ as a Climate Change Response Measure
The Role of Forests in Mitigating Against Climate Change
The struggle against climate change is one of the defining challenges of our times. To achieve the ultimate goal of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, global emissions must peak in the near future and be followed by sustained, deep cuts, as provided by the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Globally, forests cover about 4 billion ha or 31 percent of the world’s land surface. Their destruction releases the stored carbon into the atmosphere causing an imbalance in the carbon cycle. Globally, forest ecosystems are under intense pressure from human actions, including deforestation, encroachment on wildlife habitats, intensified agriculture, and acceleration of climate change, which have pushed nature beyond its limit due to the demand for more land and resources.
Forests exist across all countries and landscapes on the African continent, covering about 650 million hectares. Over two-thirds of Africa’s people rely directly and indirectly on forests for their livelihoods, including more than 70% of households that utilize wood as their primary energy source. Africa’s rapid deforestation is threatening the flow of key environmental goods and services at the local, national, and global levels. Africa contributes an estimated 11% of global tree cover loss, mostly driven by urbanization and infrastructural development.
Africa’s forest landscapes are diverse, including the rainforests of the Congo Basin which constitutes the World’s second-largest tropical forest; the Afromontane type of forests serving as important sources of water and resources for communities threatened by logging, mining & agriculture; dry forests and woodlands of southern, West & Eastern Africa which acts as critical landscapes for pastoralists and the Semi-arid forests, bushlands and thickets. These forests are important for NTFPs such as honey and plant exudates and hunting and rural energy production. Coastal forests of East Africa are high in biodiversity with importance for NTFPs and as sacred forests.
A Synopsis of REDD+
Efforts towards Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, enhancement of carbon stocks, conservation, and sustainable management of forests in developing countries (REDD+) remain crucial in seeking solutions to the challenge of climate change. Today, economic undervaluation of standing forests drives deforestation and forest degradation. Therefore, for REDD+ to succeed, the economic incentive structure must be changed. Read More: Policy Brief- REDD+