Category: Theme 4: Climate change adaptation and mitigation


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  • Trees on farms: Unexplored big wins for climate change through landscape restoration

Trees on farms: Unexplored big wins for climate change through landscape restoration

18 November, 2016

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  • COP22 Special: Talking gender and climate change

COP22 Special: Talking gender and climate change

13 November, 2016

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Scientists working under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry discuss the main issues related to gender and climate change in the lead-up to COP22 in Marrakesh. Are women considered in climate policy? How is gender understood in global climate commitments? CIFOR will be talking gender in Marrakesh at a number of events, including the Global Landscapes Forum on 16 November.

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  • COP22 Special: Why should we care about peat?

COP22 Special: Why should we care about peat?


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Originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News

Peat is partially decayed, dead vegetation that has accumulated over thousands of years. Though peatlands are generally saturated with water and difficult to set ablaze, they can become tinderboxes when they are drained to make way for agricultural plantations like pulp and paper and palm oil.

When peatlands burn, huge amounts of CO2 are released.

Although peatlands cover just 3-5 percent of the Earth’s surface, they store more than 30 percent of all soil carbon. And while the area of peatland currently classified as drained and degrading covers less than 0.4 percent of the global land surface, it is responsible for 5 percent of global anthropogenic emissions, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

INDONESIA’S PEAT PROBLEM

Military troops help to extinguish peat fires in Indonesia. Photo by Aulia Erlangga/ CIFOR
Military troops help to extinguish peat fires in Indonesia. Photo by Aulia Erlangga/ CIFOR

Fires in forests and former forestlands occur in Indonesia in the dry season every year – particularly in the provinces of Riau and Jambi on the island of Sumatra, and West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

However, the haze that spreads to other countries is no longer restricted to drought years, and has become increasingly frequent due to ongoing deforestation of peatlands in Indonesia.

The 2015 forest fires in Indonesia were devastating for the environment, resulting in 884 million tons of carbon dioxide being released in the region – with 97 percent originating from burning in Indonesia. The corresponding carbon emissions were 289 million tons, with 1.2 billion tons of associated carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions.

The gravity of this environmental crisis motivated Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo to pledge to restore two million hectares of the country’s degraded peatlands by 2020 to prevent future fires.

Under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, CIFOR is studying the complex socioeconomic, ecological and governance factors at play in peatland restoration, as well as directly engaging with communities on the ground in Dompas village, Riau province, Sumatra.

A NEW GLOBAL PEAT INITIATIVE

Peatland soil in Lake Sentarum, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Ricki Martin for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
Peatland soil in Lake Sentarum, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Ricki Martin for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Policymakers at COP22 are now looking more closely at how peatlands can be better managed in order to curb carbon emissions. While the launch of the peatland hotspots map at COP21 in Paris last year marked the start of work to develop an online Global Peatland Atlas, more work needs to be done.

For one, there is a need for better mapping before restoration and conservation can begin in some areas. Additionally, new partners will need to be mobilized to make real progress towards sustainable peatland management. In an effort to achieve this goal, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is set to unveil its new initiative at the Global Landscapes Forum on 16 November in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The Global Peatlands Initiative aims to increase the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of peatlands in countries with significant peat deposits delivering benefits for agriculture, biodiversity and the climate. In terms of scale and scope, the initiative goes beyond any recent collaborative efforts on peat.

Among its founding members are: the governments of Indonesia, Peru and the Republic of Congo, UNEP, FAO, IFAD, the EC, Wetlands International, UNEP-WCMC, GRID-Arendal, Ramsar Secretariat, European Space Agency, WRI, Greifswald Mire Centre and SarVision/Sateligence.

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  • Is household forest clearing affected by REDD+?

Is household forest clearing affected by REDD+?

12 November, 2016

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In this presentation, the presenter assesses whether REDD+ interventions have had an impact on forest clearing by rural household, and the local contexts that have influenced any change in behavior. Although clearing by smallholders is increasingly dominated by large scale commercial actors, it still plays a non-negligible role in global greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing forest clearing by households was the main rationale for sub-national initiatives to reduce emissions from forests and forest degradation (REDD+). However, REDD+ interventions to reduce local forest conversion and use could negatively affect the livelihoods among communities.

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  • Agroforestry and Redd+ in Africa: potentials, challenges and the way forward

Agroforestry and Redd+ in Africa: potentials, challenges and the way forward

08 November, 2016

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  • Enhancing transparency in the land sector under the Paris Agreement: Non-state actors and corporate pledges, from rhetoric to reality

Enhancing transparency in the land sector under the Paris Agreement: Non-state actors and corporate pledges, from rhetoric to reality

07 November, 2016

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Key messages

  • Article 13 of the Paris Agreement calls for enhanced transparency in climate actions. At the same time, non-state actors (NSAs) are increasingly referred to within the text of decisions and initiatives by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). However, the continued use of such a broad and undefined term to represent a complex set of stakeholders – ranging from academia to private sector, civil society to indigenous peoples groups – is unhelpful. There cannot be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to NSAs
  • The private sector is a complex and diverse sub-set of NSAs, with significant variations in capacity, motivations and priorities across companies and value chains. Their response to climate change will be key to setting and achieving the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) made by Parties to the UNFCCC.
  • A large number of international corporations have made voluntary commitments to reduce their negative environmental and social impacts in the agriculture and forestry sectors, within their own operations as well as those of third-party suppliers. Many of these pledges have now been registered on the UNFCCC non-state actor platform (NAZCA). As yet, however, there is no systematic way to track and verify these pledges and their impacts.
  • One major risk is that stringent and rapidly implemented corporate commitments related to sustainable and ‘deforestation free’ supply chains will exclude already marginalized smallholders, who often operate within broader informal economies, resulting in indirect detrimental social and environmental impacts. Aside from the Cancun safeguards, such risks remain unrecognized by the UNFCCC.
  • Public funds, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), could be used to financially support smallholders and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and upgrade their production systems through the adoption of improved practices and by facilitating their access to sustainable supply chains.
  • Governments, indigenous peoples groups and civil society organizations, as well as corporations themselves, are monitoring the progress and impact of NSA pledges at different spatial scales. But significant challenges remain regarding the alignment of methods, metrics and data sets, disclosure of information, and the verification and monitoring of indirect impacts.
  • There is currently no systematic way to track delivery of voluntary commitments through transparent processes that are open to wider society. Additional efforts, including national and international political architectures are needed.
  • There is justification for the UNFCCC to develop guidance around NSA engagement in climate mitigation and adaptation actions. This can help to distinguish between different groups of NSAs and track the activities undertaken by diverse private sector actors, to better understand how they contribute to achieving NDCs.

Authors: Gnych, S.; Leonard, S.; Pacheco, P.; Lawry, S.; Martius, C.

Topic: climate change, adaptation, mitigation

Series: CIFOR Infobrief no. 157

Pages: 8p.

Published at: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

Publication Year: 2016

DOI: 10.17528/cifor/006257

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  • Enhancing transparency in the land-use sector: Exploring the role of independent monitoring approaches

Enhancing transparency in the land-use sector: Exploring the role of independent monitoring approaches


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There is a need for independent monitoring approaches (i.e. unbiased data, tools and methods) that stakeholders involved in land-use sector mitigation activities can rely on for their own goals, but which would also be perceived as transparent and legitimate by others and support accountability of all stakeholders in the framework of the Paris Agreement

Independent monitoring is not a specific tool, a single system or a one-serves-all approach. It is rather a diversity of approaches and initiatives with the purpose of increasing transparency and broadening stakeholder participation and confidence by providing free and open methods, data, and tools that are complementary to mandated reporting by national governments.

We identify key elements of independent monitoring:

  • transparency in data sources, definitions, methodologies and assumptions;
  • free and open methods, data, and tools, which are truly “barrier free” to all stakeholders;
  • increased participation and accountability of stakeholders;
  • complementarity to mandated reporting by countries;
  • promotion of accuracy, consistency, completeness and comparability of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission estimates.

Independent monitoring should be considered an important mechanism for enhancing transparency in the land-use sector. Interested stakeholders can engage and benefit from independent monitoring approaches when starting to implement the Paris Agreement; we provide examples and recommendations as starting points.

Authors: de Sy, V.; Herold, M.; Martius, C.; Böttcher, H.; Fritz, S.; Gaveau, D.L.A.; Leonard, S.;Romijn, E.; Román-Cuesta, R.M.

Topic: land use, monitoring, forest management

Series: CIFOR Infobrief no. 156

Pages: 8p.

Published at: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

Publication Year: 2016

DOI: 10.17528/cifor/006256

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  • Smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate change and the roles of trees and agroforestry in climate risk adaptation: evidence from Bohol, Philippines

Smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate change and the roles of trees and agroforestry in climate risk adaptation: evidence from Bohol, Philippines

01 November, 2016

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Recent studies have highlighted the importance of trees and agroforestry in climate change adaptation and mitigation. This paper analyzes how farmers, members of their households, and community leaders in the Wahig–Inabanga watershed, Bohol province in the Philippines perceive of climate change, and define and value the roles of trees in coping with climate risks. Focus group discussions revealed that farmers and community leaders had observed changes in rainfall and temperature over the years. They also had positive perceptions of tree roles in coping with climate change, with most timber tree species valued for regulating functions, while non-timber trees were valued as sources of food and income. Statistical analysis of the household survey results was done through linear probability models for both determinants of farmers’ perceived changes in climate, and perceived importance of tree roles in coping with climate risks. Perceiving of changes in rainfall was more likely among farmers who had access to electricity, had access to water for irrigation, and derived climate information from government agencies and mass media, and less likely among farmers who were members of farmers’ organizations. On the other hand, perceiving of an increase in temperature was more likely among famers who were members of women’s organizations and had more off/ non-farm sources of income, and less likely among those who derived climate information from government agencies. Meanwhile, marginal effects of the regression on perceived importance of trees in coping with climate change revealed positively significant relationships with the following predictor variables: access to electricity, number of off/non-farm sources of income, having trees planted by household members, observed increase in temperature and decline in yield, and sourcing climate information from government agencies. In contrast, a negatively significant relationship was observed between recognition of the importance of tree roles, and level of education, and deriving income from tree products. In promoting tree-based adaptation, we recommend improving access to necessary inputs and resources, exploring the potentials of farmer-to-farmer extension, using participatory approaches to generate farmer-led solutions based on their experiences of climate change, and initiating government-led extension to farmers backed by nongovernment partners.

Authors: Rodel D. Lasco, Marya Laya O. Espaldon, Christine Marie D. Habito

Published at Agroforestry Systems, June 2016

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  • Ecological rainfall infrastructure: investment in trees for sustainable development

Ecological rainfall infrastructure: investment in trees for sustainable development


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  • Global Wetlands

Global Wetlands

24 October, 2016

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  • Indonesia’s forest conversion moratorium assessed with an agent-based model of Land-Use Change and Ecosystem Services (LUCES)

Indonesia’s forest conversion moratorium assessed with an agent-based model of Land-Use Change and Ecosystem Services (LUCES)


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Authors: Aritta Suwarno, Meine van Noordwijk, Hans-Peter Weikard, Desi Suyamto

The Indonesian government recently confirmed its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to mitigate global climate change. A forest moratorium policy that protects forest and peatland is a significant part of the INDCs; however, its effectiveness is unclear in the face of complex land-use and land-cover change. This study aims to assess the dynamics of land-use change and ecosystem service supply as a function of local decision-making. We developed an agent-based model, Land-Use Change and Ecosystem Services (LUCES), and used it to explore the possible effects of the forest moratorium policy on the land-use decisions of private companies and communities. Our simulations for two districts in Central Kalimantan show that the current implementation of the forest moratorium policy is not effective in reducing forest conversion and carbon emissions. This is because companies continue to invest in converting secondary forest on mineral soils and the moratorium does not affect community decision-making. A policy that combines a forest moratorium with livelihood support and increases farm-gate prices of forest and agroforestry products could increase the local communities’ benefits from conservation. Forest and agroforestry areas that are profitable and competitive are more likely to be conserved and reduce potential carbon emission by about 36 %. The results for the two districts, with different pressures on local resources, suggest that appropriate additional measures require local fine-tuning. The LUCES model could be an ex ante tool to facilitate such fine-tuning and help the Indonesian government achieve its INDC goals as part of a wider sustainable development policy.

Published at Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

Open AccessArticle

First Online: 14 August 2016
DOI: 10.1007/s11027-016-9721-0

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  • Effects of climate change and deforestation on potential of carbon sequestration and its implication in forest landscape restoration

Effects of climate change and deforestation on potential of carbon sequestration and its implication in forest landscape restoration

13 October, 2016

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Presentation by Mulugeta Mokria, Dr Aster Gebrekirstos, Dr Ermias Aynekakulu and Prof Dr Achim Brauning based on a study to investigate the current extent of forest degradation due to climate change in Ethiopia. The study also quantified the effects of tree dieback on aboveground carbon stock and the carbon sequestration potential. The research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

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  • Low Emission Development Strategies in Agriculture. An Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses (AFOLU) Perspective

Low Emission Development Strategies in Agriculture. An Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses (AFOLU) Perspective


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As countries experience economic growth and choose among available development pathways, they are in a favorable position to adopt natural resource use technologies and production practices that favor efficient use of inputs, healthy soils, and ecosystems. Current emphasis on increasing resilience to climate change and reducing agricultural greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions strengthens the support for sustainable agricultural production. In fact, reducing losses in soil fertility, reclaiming degraded lands, and promoting synergistic interaction between crop production and forests are generally seen as good climate change policies. In order for decision-makers to develop long-term policies that address these issues, they must have tools at their disposal that evaluate trade-offs, opportunities, and repercussions of the options considered. In this paper, the authors combine and reconcile the output of three models widely accessible to the public to analyze the impacts of policies that target emission reduction in the agricultural sector. We present an application to Colombia which reveals the importance of considering the full scope of interactions among the various land uses. Results indicate that investments in increasing the efficiency and productivity of the livestock sector and reducing land allocated to pasture are preferable to policies that target deforestation alone or target a reduction of emissions in crop production. Investments in livestock productivity and land-carrying capacity would reduce deforestation and provide sufficient gains in carbon stock to offset greater emissions from increased crop production while generating higher revenues.

Source: Word Development, November 2016

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  • What is the Global Wetlands Map?

What is the Global Wetlands Map?

10 October, 2016

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The Global Wetlands Map plots the distribution of wetlands, histosols – or peaty soils – and their carbon stocks around the world. Visitors can freely access the data via the online map or by download, while registered users can verify data and add their own.

The initiative comes from the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP), a collaborative effort between the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the United States Forest Service, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

To access the map, visit: www.cifor.org/global-wetlands

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  • Keeping track of forests: systems for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) - Experience from the Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System

Keeping track of forests: systems for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) – Experience from the Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System

22 August, 2016

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