September 2014: The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in profiling Zambia’s ‘Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for REDD+’, has reported on the country’s national REDD+ strategy, institutional capacity, data needs and knowledge gaps.

As one of nine pilot countries under the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (UN-REDD) quick start programme, the report notes that significant effort has been put into REDD+ readiness in Zambia. This process has, according to the report, resulted in the establishment of an Integrated Land Use Assessment, which has established reference forest cover levels.

The report also highlights a number of challenges for MRV including a lack of current data on biomass, growth rates, carbon stock change, deforestation and forest degradation rates, and the impact of fire on carbon stocks. The report also highlights the need for regional allometric models.

Based on the analysis of national circumstances, the report suggests that Zambia establish a specific institution to support and coordinate MRV, that data sharing protocols be put in place, and that capacity be built for remote sensing and the monitoring of field sites. CIFOR is a part of the CGIAR consortium. [Publication: Zambia Country Profile – Monitoring, reporting and verification for REDD+]