Modelling Forest Fragmentation and Carbon Emissions for REDD plus

During COP15, Parties agreed that reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing “removals of greenhouse gas emission by forests” (REDD plus) in developing countries through positive incentives under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was capable of dealing with global emissions. As REDD plus seeks to lower emission from stopping deforestation and forest degradation, ecosystem-based benefits also could be part of these efforts and significant opportunities for those benefits such as slowing habitat fragmentation, conservation of forest biodiversity, soil conservation, and water regulation may flow from the scheme of REDD plus. Our study aims to model carbon stock changes and forest fragmentation for REDD plus. Here we try to ‘piggyback’ forest fragmentation onto the scheme that will be required to measure forest carbon stock and emission reduction. The result shows that carbon stocks in study area experienced a dramatic reduction. In addition to such marked changes in carbon dynamics, forest delivered strong synergies in fragmentation and water erosion. As such mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks are likely to present opportunities for multi benefits that fall outside the scope of carbon stocks.