Climate change mitigation and adaptation in the forest plantation sector
The aim of this project is to assess the socioeconomic benefits of initiatives taken to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in Indian forests.
Project details
The project emphasises the various characteristics of forests in different Indian regions and addresses how benefits vary depending on the forest management regimes that are used. The project will also make an assessment of how climate change will affect these benefits.
The background is the Norwegian engagement in REDD+, which aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation as a means of mitigating climate change. Countries that provide financial support to these initiatives, such as Norway, are motivated mainly by the expected impact on the uptake of carbon in the forests. They therefore prioritise alternative initiatives according to the cost per unit of uptake. The countries where the initiatives are implemented need, on the other hand, to be compensated for the foregone benefits from previous forest activities. These may differ substantially between regions and between users, and the actual outcome may entail substantial uncertainty. Our aim is to assess the overall impact on the global emissions produced by the various alternatives and to explore reasons why the final outcome of the initiatives may vary depending on region and management regime, even though the pre-assessed cost per unit of reduced emission is the same.
The project runs through September 2015.
The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway with support from the Norwegian Embassy in India.