We try to save the forest, but does it really work?
Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to a large volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in the atmosphere, therefore forests have an important role to play in reducing CO2 emission and mitigate climate change. A better management to prevent forest destruction may provide 37% of the climate change solutions to keep global warming below the 2 °C threshold by 2030.
In 2007, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) proposed a plan to reduce CO2 emissions caused by deforestation. This plan was called REDD+, a short acronym for reducing emission from deforestation, forest degradation and enhancing carbon stocks. The main goal of this plan is to give funding to developing countries and help them to conserve their forests. Most projects are focused on combining rural development and forest conservation in poor communities.
In an article published in June 2018 in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, a scientific journal summarizing the views of experts on trends in environmental sustainability, Duchelle and colleagues reviewed the effects of the REDD+ implementation. They reviewed the scientific literature by cautiously selecting relevant studies showing a clear aim, repeatable methods and reliable result measurements. On Web of Science, the equivalent of Google for scientists, they searched…
