Community forest monitoring in REDD+: the ‘M’ in MRV?

Transparent, accountable, and sustainable monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems are essential for any REDD+ framework. With the prospect of a global agreement on forest preservation on the horizon, establishing functional MRV systems is one of the major goals of so called ‘REDD Readiness’. However, due to the ambitious, worldwide scale of the prospective REDD+ framework, financial sustainability is a central issue. MRV of tropical forests has historically been an expensive, expert led process, carried out by external consultants in conjunction with the local population. This professional model of forest monitoring is not viable for a global scale programme, and so attention is turning to the potential of community/locally based monitoring to fulfil the ‘M’ in REDD+ MRV.This desk-based study attempts to lend support to the above assertion by providing an up to date review of the still relatively limited literature on locally based natural resource monitoring, looking at the inherent advantages it has over professional monitoring. It then picks out key practical lessons from a variety of international case studies, before assessing how locally based monitoring could fit into a REDD+ MRV framework.The investigation shows locally based monitoring to be advantageous in terms of lower costs, enhanced local ownership, greater cultural relevance and improved institutional strength at the community level, while not compromising on accuracy of information produced – there is a growing consensus amongst practitioners in the field that adequately trained local monitors can produce data comparable to that derived from professionals. As REDD+ requires ground-based monitoring to complement remote sensing of forest condition, locally based monitoring can fulfil this role while also creating employment. The author highlights the need to develop a community MRV protocol that maximises the involvement of local people in forest monitoring, while also corresponding to the forest monitoring requirements made by the UN for the prospective REDD+ framework.

Research highlights
► In this review paper, locally based forest monitoring (the production of forest monitoring data by local people) is assessed.
► A growing body of evidence suggests local people can produce data of a similar standard to that of professionally trained scientists.
► Locally based monitoring has many other benefits, including cost effectiveness and livelihood contributions, so could play a central role in REDD+ monitoring, reporting and verification.