What is REDD Plus?
REDD Plus refers to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries.
REDD Plus is a set of guidelines on how to report on forest resources and forest management strategies as well as their results in terms of reducing emissions and enhancing removals of GHGs.
National REDD Plus Strategy
The National REDD Plus Strategy endeavours to reduce emissions by 15 to 25 mil tonnes CO2 annually between 2016 to 2025.
The three main objectives are:
- to promote consistency and synergies in the implementation of climate change, forest and biodiversity related policies between federal and state levels.
- to measure, report and verify (MRV) REDD Plus results as part of the effort to achieve the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, UNFCCC.
- to develop a sustainable financing mechanism for REDD Plus implementation.
National Forest Monitoring System
National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) consists of two monitoring components:
- Short term: Biennial geospatial imageries for monitoring changes in forests.
- Long term: National forests inventory once every 10 years to assess carbon stocks in forests.
Forest Reference Level
Malaysia submitted its Forest Reference Level (FRL) for 2016 to 2025 for the following activities:
- Deforestation
- Conservation of carbon stock
- Sustainable management of forests
REDD Plus Safeguards
REDD Plus Safeguards consists of governance, social and environment aspects. It is a set of seven principles and action items that ensure that all of the safeguards are addressed and respected.
Malaysia has been observing the REDD Plus safeguards through the ongoing implementation of the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management Certification (MC&I SFM) and the National Policy on Biological Diversity 2016-2025.
What is in the National REDD Plus Strategy?
The Strategy covers:
Why Malaysia needs REDD Plus?
- Recognition of the role of forests in climate change mitigation;
contributes to reductions in GHG emissions - Recognition of forests in providing ecological services
- Supports environmental integrity
- Provides significant adaptation benefits for societies
What REDD Plus does?
- Reduce emissions from deforestation
- Reduce emissions from forest degradation
- Conserve forest carbon stocks
- Enhance forest carbon stocks
- Ensure sustainable management of forests
REDD Plus supports sustainable logging activities
REDD Plus governance
The National Steering Committee (NSC) on REDD Plus coordinates and monitors the REDD Plus implementation in Malaysia, while the National Technical Committee (NTC) on REDD Plus provides methodological guidance on REDD Plus implementation and formulates national action plans, supported by several working groups. All REDD Plus activities are implemented by the respective State Forestry Departments guided by the National REDD Plus Strategy and state’s development plan and policies or State REDD Plus Policy where appropriate.