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Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus (REDD+) in the Philippines: will it make a difference in financing forest development?

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Abstract

There is a high level of interest in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus (REDD+) carbon (C) financing as a way to accelerate forest conservation and development. However, there is very limited information on the potential costs and benefits of REDD+ in developing countries like the Philippines. In this paper, we estimated the range of likely financial benefits of REDD+ implementation in the country under various forest degradation and mitigation scenarios. Our findings show that reducing the rate of forest degradation by a modest 5 to 15 % annually while increasing the doubling the rate of reforestation to 1.5 % annually could reduce C emissions by up to about 60 million t C by 2030. These are equivalent to US$ 97 to 417 million of mean C credits annually at US$ 5 per ton C. These figures are much higher than the total budget of the government and official development assistance for forestry activities in the country which amounted to US$ 46 million in 2005 and US$ 12 million in 2006, respectively. We conclude that REDD+ C credits could be a significant source of financing for forestry projects in developing countries like the Philippines.

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Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to the support provided by the following ICRAF projects in the conduct of the study: the IFAD-supported RUPES project and the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) program. We also thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments improved the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. World Agroforestry Centre, Philippines (ICRAF), IRRI, College, Laguna, Philippines

    Rodel D. Lasco, Marie Habito & Florencia B. Pulhin

  2. University of the Philippines, College, Laguna, Philippines

    Rizza Karen A. Veridiano

  3. Forestry Development Center, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna, Philippines

    Florencia B. Pulhin

Authors
  1. Rodel D. Lasco
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  2. Rizza Karen A. Veridiano
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  3. Marie Habito
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  4. Florencia B. Pulhin
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Correspondence to Rodel D. Lasco.

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Lasco, R.D., Veridiano, R.K.A., Habito, M. et al. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus (REDD+) in the Philippines: will it make a difference in financing forest development?. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 18, 1109–1124 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-012-9411-5

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