Assess and improve the national GHG inventory and other economic and resource data as needed for LEDS development

2.4.3. Assessing Monitoring Systems for Landscapes

The stakeholder group must design a monitoring system to credibly measure and report (a) emission reductions and removals of greenhouse gases, and (b) development and other benefits and impacts over time, in relation to the reference scenario. Emissions reductions and removals must be measurable and reportable in a robust and verifiable manner. This system should build the foundation for any future measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) system. The MRV systems that will be required to qualify for performance-based financial incentives are still under negotiation in the UNFCCC. However, there is some guidance on the criteria for quality domestic systems. The UNFCCC SBSTA decision on REDD from COP-15 (2/CP.13) states that “estimates of reductions or increases of emissions should be results-based, demonstrable, transparent and verifiable, and estimated consistently over time.” LEDS support will focus on quality domestic systems that follow existing SBSTA guidance and do not prejudge an international outcome.

In addition, this system should monitor rural livelihoods, conservation of biodiversity, key governance factors directly pertinent to landscape LEDS implementation, financial transactions related to landscapes LEDS, and impacts of the landscape LEDS on forestry, agriculture and other related industries. Monitoring of social, environmental and economic performance should follow accepted best practices, e.g., the Montreal Process on Criteria and Indicators for measuring social benefits.

Landscape LEDS require much more emphasis on measuring, monitoring and reporting than most forest monitoring programs, and most countries have limited capacity to create robust GHG inventories and monitoring systems. This stage includes an assessment of the gaps between existing national forest monitoring systems and the requirements of likely international standards for landscape and REDD+ systems (e.g. in the absence of international agreement within the UNFCCC, standards and best practices are available from the IPCC good practice guidelines).

Climate policies and monitoring concepts focus on emissions and carbon impacts. However, national LEDS will need to target the key causes and processes that cause forest and landscape emissions on the ground, which are often policy related. To design a national landscapes monitoring systems, one needs to understand the active drivers and processes of forest and landscape emissions, have sufficient data to assess their importance (emissions impact), and be able to analyze how policies can achieve landscape LEDS objectives.

The monitoring system will be specially designed, taking into consideration each countries’ forest and landscape conditions, current forest monitoring and available resources. Although remote sensing is a valuable component of many monitoring systems, these systems do not have to be hi-tech, and in situ ground truthing is an important component of monitoring systems, and also contributes to the transparency and participatory elements of the LEDS. Community monitoring can be comparably accurate to professional monitoring with the benefits of being lower cost and facilitate greater transparency.