Participating in REDD+ Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (PMRV): Opportunities for Local People?

Abstract

Abstract:Assessing forest changes is the baseline requirement for successful forest management. Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) are three essential components for achieving such assessments. Community participation in resource monitoring and management is increasingly seen as a scientifically efficient, cost-effective, and equitable way to employ such practices, particularly in the context of REDD+. We developed a multidisciplinary approach to study the feasibility of Participatory MRV (PMRV) across three sites along a forest degradation gradient in Indonesia. We looked at both the local and national level needs of MRV. Our approach combines: (1) social research focusing on the enabling conditions for local participation in MRV; (2) governance analyses of existing MRV systems in forestry and health; and (3) remote sensing work comparing overlaps and gaps between satellite imagery and local assessments of forest changes. We considered in our approach the possible multiple benefits of PMRV (carbon mitigation, biodiversity conservation, livelihood security). Our study helped to identify the multiple stakeholders (communities, NGOs and governments) and what the levels of governance should be to make PMRV design and implementation feasible and sustainable. OPEN ACCESSForests 2014, 5 1856

Unseen sentinels: local monitoring and control in conservation’s blind spots

“…The potential to adapt these systems was not the subject of our study. Nonetheless, when considering possible synergies with external interests, the options include how communities might participate in and contribute to externally overseen conservation (Cooke and Kothari 2001, Sheil and Lawrence 2004 or natural resource monitoring (e.g., Guijt 2007, Staddon et al 2014, including the various activities involved in monitoring as well as Measurement, Reporting and Verification of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) or payment-for-environmental-services schemes (Boissière et al 2014, Torres et al 2014, Torres and Skutsch 2015. Just as importantly, we can invert the question and consider when and how external conservation interests can contribute to existing community efforts.…”

Does the ‘One Map Initiative’ Represent a New Path for Forest Mapping in Indonesia? Assessing the Contribution of the REDD+ Initiative in Effecting Forest Governance Reform

“…By positioning REDD+ in this broader context of institutional interplay and political economy, this paper complements and extends literature on REDD+ governance that analyses (i) the challenges and opportunities for the REDD+ initiative to effect forest governance reform [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] and (ii) the potential social and economic impacts of REDD+ policies on local people and communities' participation on project implementations [31][32][33][34][35][36]. Moreover, concepts from political economy have been deployed to explore the challenge of REDD+ in creating incentives for forest conservation that are able to 'out-compete' other interests, such as timber, mining, and agricultural economics [10,[37][38][39].…”

Motivation matters: Lessons for REDD+ participatory measurement, reporting and verification from three decades of child health participatory monitoring in Indonesia

“…This study contributes to a larger multidisciplinary project examining the feasibility of PMRV for REDD+ in Indonesia in the same locations [11]. The communities had not hosted or been impacted by past or present REDD+ projects or anything similar that might have influenced their views [11].…”

“…where trained professionals are typically scarce or absent over large areas [11]. Clearly, any information or insight on how such systems might be designed and implemented to function effectively would be valuable.…”