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Godwin Kowero, 8 July 2009 | EN | FR
 Over 70 per cent of Africa's population depend on forest resources for their survival. USAID/D.Ka
In the run-up to this year's global climate negotiations in Copenhagen, the international community is fiercely debating proposals for mitigating climate change, including strategies for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).
African forests — which cover 635 million hectares and account for 16 per cent of the world's forests — are attracting increasing attention. Partly, this is because of their potential as a sink for carbon dioxide. And partly, it is because unsustainable land use, including agricultural expansion, commercial harvesting and urbanisation, is driving high rates of deforestation and forest degradation on the continent, making it an obvious target for REDD strategies.
African perspectives
But unless African forestry perspectives are included in global climate change debates, REDD policies for the continent risk being inadequate or inappropriate.
Making REDD work for Africa means recognising the complexity and diversity of African forests. The way the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change currently defines 'forest' seriously limits the lands that would qualify for REDD in Africa. For example, most dry forests — which constitute the bulk of African natural forests — will be excluded.
It also means learning from the failings of current strategies — in particular the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The procedures, costs and capacity requirements for developing qualified CDM projects, in addition to political and tenurial uncertainties, and an unstable investment environment in some countries, all combine to seriously inhibit Africa's participation in this mechanism. Compared to other regions of the world, there has been little interest in CDM in Africa.
For REDD, there is the additional challenge of how to monitor and measure the impact of actions — in particular how to set baselines. Most natural forests in Africa are under no form of management or administration, which makes it very difficult to determine how much carbon they hold. A first requirement for REDD in Africa then, will be putting forests under effective management and ensuring secure ownership for all forests and trees. Accurate data on forest cover, deforestation, degradation and biomass productivity are also urgently needed.
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The United Nations Climate Change Conference that took place in Copenhagen between December 07 and 18, 2009 came out with a political accord called The Copenhagen Accord. The key points of the accord include the objective to keep the maximum temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius; the commitment to developed country emission reduction targets and mitigation action by developing countries for 2020; USD 30 billion short-term funding for immediate action till 2012 and USD 100 billion annually by 2020 in long-term financing, as well as mechanisms to support technology transfer and forestry.