Astrid Zabel

Ensuring REDD plays its part in any post-2012 agreement: which issues remain to be resolved?

This article reviews the recent policy literature and political debate on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). The strengths of REDD, including its cost–effectiveness, are highlighted. The main focus of the article is the identification of policy issues that need to be resolved before a broad international consensus on REDD+ (which includes the addition of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks to the concept of REDD) can be reached. Such a consensus is particularly important if REDD+ is to be included in a post-2012 climate agreement and is to be used as a policy mechanism that can effectively mobilize land-based mitigation. Defining methodologies in order to set reference scenarios, tackling leakage, and assigning liability for carbon credits generated in REDD+ schemes are among the policy issues discussed.

Policies for Forest Landscape Management A Conceptual Approach with an Empirical Application for Swedish Conditions

Habitat loss and habitat fragmentation are major factors leading to forest biodiversity decline. This paper discusses landscape planning as strategy to improve connectivity in a landscape with a heterogeneous distribution of ecologically valuable areas across land owners. A tax-fund system is proposed, that following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, tries to spread the burden of conservation equally across land owners while optimizing the environmental outcome. Design options of such a tax-fund system are discussed along the lines of a simple theoretical model. Financial effects of a tax-fund system are computed for a small model landscape set in Sweden. Two design questions stand out as particularly important. The first is whether the policy is intended to be self-sustained among the land owners or if the budget can be supplemented by general tax money. The second is whether the land owners or the relevant authority select the stands for conservation set-aside.