Countries planning to carry out REDD+ are also requested to develop national forest monitoring systems (NFMS), as agreed in Cancun in 2010 at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC-COP16). It was recognized that NFMS can both monitor REDD+ activities as well as play an MRV role in their implementation. Indeed, NFMSs play an essential role in how information for national REDD+ programmes is managed.

Pillars of national forest monitoring systems

The “monitoring” function of NFMS allows countries to assess a broad range of forest information, including in the context of REDD+. The ‘MRV’ function for REDD+ refers to the estimation and international reporting of forest emissions and removals.

The monitoring function can be defined depending on national circumstances. Meanwhile, the MRV function will imply three main components/pillars:

• A greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory provides a framework for estimating and reporting GHG emissions and removals for the forest sector.

• A satellite land monitoring system (SLMS) enables the collection of data on land use and forest area change, as a result of human activities, through remote sensing.

• A National forest inventory (NFI), under the UN-REDD NFMS strategy, is considered a tool for the field measurement of forest carbon stocks and stock changes as part of the MRV function of the NFMS.

Countries carry out REDD+ through three phases, in accordance to Decision 1/CP.16, in which the NFMS must be developed through three pillars:

1) Readiness
2) Result‐based demonstration
3) Result‐based actions

M&MRV is one of the largest areas of work of the UN-REDD Programme. Technical and institutional capacity building are keys to developing strong nationally owned forest monitoring systems. The UN-REDD Programme, through its collaborating UN agency FAO, provides technical support to countries, particularly in the development of credible and cost-effective NFMSs. Countries are also assisted to develop their forest reference emissions levels/forest reference levels (FREL/FRL).According to the UNFCCC, these benchmarks must be established in order to assess a country’s performance in carrying out REDD+ activities.

Forest reference emission levels and/or forest reference levels

 One of the elements countries need to develop to participate in REDD+ is a FREL/FRL. The UNFCCC has defined FREL/FRLsas benchmarks for assessing each country’s performance in implementing REDD+ activities and mitigating climate change through actions related to their forests.

To date, the UNFCCC-COP has agreed on four decisions related to FREL/FRLs for REDD+, providing guidance for developing countries on 1) modalities for FREL/FRLs, including guidelines for submission of information; and 2) on the technical assessment of FREL/FRL submissions.

Key points in these decisions made on the scale, scope and other requirements for the construction of FREL/FRLs suggest they should:

• Be expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. In other words, other metrics such as forest loss area are not acceptable as FREL/FRLs under the UNFCCC.

• Maintain consistency with national GHG inventories. Countries should not be using incompatible data, land cover maps, etc. for the development of FREL/FRLs. If the forest definition used for the FREL/FRL construction is different to the one used in the national GHG inventory, an explanation should be provided as to why and how this is the case. Consistency with national GHG inventories also means using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines as a basis for estimating forest-related GHG emissions by sources and removals by sinks, forest carbon stocks, forest area and forest area changes.

• Be established transparently, providing information and rationale on FREL/FRL development. Countries are expected to submit information on data used for developing the FREL/FRL, including historic data and details on national circumstances. If adjusted they should submit details on how national circumstances were considered. The description of data sets, approaches, methods and models, if applicable, and assumptions, descriptions of relevant policies and plans as appropriate, should be transparent, complete, consistent and accurate.

• Allow for a step-wise approach. The decision enables developing countries to improve FREL/FRLs over time by incorporating better data, improved methodologies and, where appropriate, additional pools. It also suggests that countries update their FREL/FRLs periodically to take into account new knowledge, trends or any changes to scope and methodologies.

• Allow for the use of subnational FREL/FRLs as an interim measure. Countries using subnational FREL/FRLs as an interim measure are expected to make the transition to national FREL/FRL.

Land Monitoring Systems (LMS)

• Système National de Surveillance des Forêts de la République Démocratique du Congo
• Sistema Nacional de Monitoreo Forestal de Paraguay
• Geoportal del Sistema Único de Información Ambiental de Ecuador
• Papua New Guinea National Forest Monitoring Portal
• Fiji National Forest Monitoring Portal
• Palau National Forest Monitoring Portal
• Solomon Island National Forest Monitoring Portal
• Pacific Islands National Forest Monitoring Portal