2 December 2014: The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD) released a “perspective climate change” brief on the involvement of local people in measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) for REDD+. The brief concludes that the feasibility of local participation in MRV is tied to capacity, relevance to communities, and the strength of MRV structures.

The brief, titled ‘Estimating Carbon Emissions for REDD+: The conditions for involving local people,’ identifies a number of benefits from the engagement of local people in MRV including strengthening the implementation of social safeguards, enhancing benefit-sharing, and supporting data collection. Local participation can also, according to the study, build trust for REDD+ processes and promote transparency.

Overall, the brief says that building the appropriate enabling environment for local participation in MRV requires that such systems be embedded in local management systems. Thus far, successful examples can be drawn from community-based forest management projects, although such approaches often focus on outcomes rather than on assessing performance. The brief notes that international consensus, political will and additional research on the conditions required for local participation in MRV are needed.

CIFOR is part of the CGIAR Consortium. [CIFOR Press Release] [Publication: Estimating Carbon Emissions for REDD+: The Conditions for Involving Local People]