"Nature-Based Approaches to Net Zero", presented by Dr. Philip Vaughter (UNU-IAS) at the 2022 ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme, 8 December, 2022.

1. Nature Based Approaches to Net Zero
PROSPER.NET LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME 2022
DR. PHILIP VAUGHTER – RESEARCH CONSULTANT, UNU-IAS
DECEMBER 8TH, 2022

2. What are nature based solutions?
 Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore
natural ecosystems, that address societal challenges such as climate change, human
health, food and water security, and disaster risk reduction effectively and
adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.
 For example, a common problem is the flooding in coastal areas that occurs as a
result of storm surges and coastal erosion. This challenge, traditionally tackled with
manmade (grey) infrastructure such as sea walls or dikes, coastal flooding, can also
be addressed by actions that take advantage of ecosystem services such as tree
planting.
 Planting trees that thrive in coastal areas – known as mangroves -- reduces the
impact of storms on human lives and economic assets, and provides a habitat for
fish, birds and other plants supporting biodiversity (1).

3. What are nature based solutions to
climate change?
 Estimates suggest that nature-based solutions can provide 37% of the
mitigation needed until 2030 to achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement.
 If you plant trees, they’re going to soak up carbon. For example, restoring native
forest at the margins of the river to avoid landslides can also act as a carbon sink.
 Climate-smart agriculture is another example that enables farmers to retain more
carbon in their fields as they produce crops.
 Decreasing deforestation is another way to benefit from nature-based solutions –
for example, by paying farmers not to cut down the forest preserves ecosystem
services such as carbon sequestration, provision of clean drinking water, and
reduction of river sedimentation downstream.

4. What are nature based solutions to
climate change?
 Nature-based solutions also play a key role in climate change adaptation and
building resilience in landscapes and communities. Several nature-based solutions
are being used by the World Bank to help manage disaster risk and reduce the
incidence and impact of flooding, mudslides, and other disasters.
 These are a cost-effective ways of addressing climate change while also addressing
biodiversity conservation and land degradation. Nature based solutions can often
address several problems at once.
 However, it’s not automatic that everything you plant becomes a nature-based
solution that contributes to biodiversity – for example, planting trees that are not
from the region and are toxic to local animals would not generate biodiversity
benefits.

5. How to measure results from nature
based solutions
 An evidence-based approach to managing, and measuring results from, nature-
based solutions is paramount. This means monitoring and evaluation throughout
the intervention cycle, drawing on science and data, as well as local and indigenous
knowledge.
 What exactly needs measuring? This depends on the societal challenges the nature-
based solution set out to address. If the goal is to mitigate climate change, the
equations, the protocols, and the systems are well established to measure the
results - with carbon dioxide (CO2) being the basic metric used.
 A ton of CO2 equivalent sequestered in a restoration project in Brazil has the same
effect on greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere as a ton of
CO2 sequestered in a reforestation project in Russia.

6. How to measure results from nature
based solutions
 What is critical is to look beyond climate and to also measure (and monetize – for
example through environmental markets) the other benefits that the nature-based
solution is delivering.
 For instance, when it comes to measuring the impact on biodiversity, the task is
more complicated and multi-dimensional. Ecosystems are highly complex and
dynamic systems; and there is no single high-level metric or a global goal on
biodiversity equivalent to keeping the global warming below 1.5°C above pre-
industrial levels in the climate realm.
 However, projects have a range of indicators available to them, such as trends in
(threatened) species populations and the provision of critical ecosystem services –
for example water quality and predictability in a watershed that benefitted from
restoration of reforestation. Since biodiversity is irreplaceable and its loss may be
irreversible (IPBES 2019), project results can be quite localized in nature.

7. Forest conservation for net zero
 As of 2016, forests cover a total of 4 billion hectares worldwide, equivalent to
approximately 31% of the total land area (1).
 Between 1990 and 2000 there was a net loss of 8.3 million hectares per year, and
the following decade, up to 2010, there was a net loss of 6.2 million hectares per
year. Although the rate of loss has slowed, it remains very high, with the vast
majority occurring in tropical regions (1).
 Aside from the devastating effects tropical forest loss has on biodiversity and
forest-dependent communities, a major consequence of deforestation and forest
degradation is the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) into the
atmosphere. Forests provide vast carbon sinks that when destroyed emit CO2 into
the atmosphere, either by burning or degradation of organic matter (2). CO2 is one
of the most potent greenhouse gases and the primary component of
anthropogenic emissions (3).
 The conversion of forests to other land uses is responsible for around 10% of net
global carbon emissions (4). Solving the problem of deforestation is a prerequisite
for any effective response to climate change.

8. Forest conservation for net zero

9. Forest conservation for net zero

10. Forest conservation: REDD
 REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation)
incentivizes a break from historic trends of increasing deforestation rates and
greenhouse gases emissions.
 It is a framework through which developing countries are rewarded financially for
any emissions reductions achieved associated with a decrease in the conversion of
forests to alternate land uses (10).
 Having identified current and/or projected rates of deforestation and forest
degradation, a country taking remedial action to effectively reduce those rates will
be financially rewarded relative to the extent of their achieved emissions reductions
(11).
 REDD provides a unique opportunity to achieve large-scale emissions reductions at
comparatively low abatement costs (12). By economically valuing the role forest
ecosystems play in carbon capture and storage, it allows intact forests to compete
with historically more lucrative, alternate land uses resulting in their destruction
(10).

11. Forest conservation: REDD
 In its infancy, REDD was first and foremost focused on reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation.
 However, in 2007 the Bali Action Plan, formulated at the thirteenth session of the
Conference of the Parties (COP-13) to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), stated that a comprehensive approach to mitigating
climate change should include “[p]olicy approaches and positive incentives on
issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in
developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of
forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries” (13).
 A year later, this was further elaborated on as the role of conservation, sustainable
management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks was upgraded so
as to receive the same emphasis as avoided emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation (14).

12. Forest conservation: REDD+
 Finally, in 2010, at COP-16 (15) as set out in the Cancun Agreements, REDD
became REDD-plus (REDD+), to reflect the new components. REDD+ now
includes:
• Reducing emissions from deforestation;
• Reducing emissions from forest degradation;
• Conservation of forest carbon stocks;
• Sustainable management of forests;
• Enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
 Within its remit, REDD+ has the potential to simultaneously contribute to
climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation, whilst also conserving
biodiversity and sustaining vital ecosystem services (16).

13. Forest conservation: REDD+
 The details of a REDD+ mechanism continue to be debated under the
UNFCCC (17), and the considerable financial needs for full-scale
implementation have not yet been met. A final mechanism is therefore
not yet in place and operating at scale.
 Despite this, in recognition of the need for urgent action if reducing
deforestation is going to have a meaningful effect in terms of reducing
emissions and mitigating climate change, REDD+ initiatives have already
been instigated outside the auspices of the UNFCCC, both independently
and in anticipation of a formal REDD+ mechanism (9).

14. Forest conservation: REDD+
 The main stumbling block around REDD+ at COP-18 in Doha turned out
to be the issue of verification (37).
 Some Parties pushed for verification based on the process of international
consultation and analysis (ICA) used for nationally appropriate mitigation
actions (NAMAs), while others backed independent third-party verification
by experts from both developed and developing countries.
 With no compromise reached, the issue was suspended and discussions
set to resume at the next SBSTA meeting in June 2013 (38).

15. Forest conservation: REDD+
 The 19th Conference of the Parties (COP-19) held in Warsaw in November
2013 saw a number of decisions adopted. This produced the ‘Warsaw
Framework for REDD+’; a package of decisions, which along with those
adopted at previous COPs completes the ‘REDD+ Rulebook’ and gives
guidance for the full implementation of REDD+ (43).
 Discussions on REDD+ took place under several different negotiating
bodies. Methodological issues were debated under the Subsidiary Body for
Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA); institutional arrangements
within a joint work programme of SBSTA and the Subsidiary Body for
Implementation (SBI); and results-based finance under the Conference of
the Parties (COP) (44).

16. Forest conservation: REDD+
 SBSTA concluded five decisions, which provide technical guidance for the
implementation of REDD+ activities. These decisions were on:
• modalities for national forest monitoring systems (Decision 11/CP.19)
• modalities for measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) (Decision 14/CP.19)
• the technical assessment of proposed forest reference emission levels/forest
reference levels (RELs/RLs) (Decision 13/CP.19)
• safeguards information systems (Decision 12/CP.19)
• and addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation (Decision
15/CP.19)
 These issues, in particular MRV and RELs, have been the subject of extensive
debate and have taken up much negotiating time since first proposed at COP-
16 in Cancun (44).

17. Forest conservation: REDD+
 COP 20 in December 2014 did not produce any new decisions on REDD+. A
reference was made to REDD+ in decision 8/CP.20 "Report of the Green Climate
Fund to the Conference of the Parties and guidance to the Green Climate Fund",
where in paragraph 18 the COP "requests the Board of the Green Climate Fund (...)
(b) to consider decisions relevant to REDD-plus", referring back to earlier COP
decisions on REDD+.[
 Finally, the remaining outstanding decisions on REDD+ were completed at COP21
in 2015. With the conclusion of decisions on reporting on the safeguards, non-
market approaches, and non-carbon benefits, the UNFCCC rulebook on REDD+ was
completed. All countries were also encouraged to implement and support REDD+
in Article 5 of the Paris Agreement. This was part of a broader Article that specified
that all countries should take action to protect and enhance their greenhouse gas
sinks and reservoirs (stores of sequestered carbon).

18. Forest conservation: REDD+

19. Case Study: Costa Rica’s approach to
REDD+
 One of Costa Rica’s main successes in its initiatives for GHG emission mitigation
within the country is carbon sequestration through the growth and maintenance of
secondary tropical forests.
 Reforestation on former agricultural lands or after timber harvest has been an
ongoing initiative within the country since the 1980s, and not only sequesters
carbon but has served as a basis for protecting the country’s floral and faunal
biodiversity.
 Because biodiversity conservation is a twined objective of Costa Rica’s reforestation
initiatives, the country has avoided fast-growing plantation forestry monoculture,
and instead focused on reforestation of mixed tropical hardwoods which are native
to the country.
 Nonetheless, growth of both lowland and montane secondary forests has been a
defining GHG emission mitigation for many regions within Costa Rica (Paniagua-
Ramirez et al., 2021).

20. Case Study: Costa Rica’s approach to
REDD+
 During the 1990s, Costa Rica paired a strict moratorium on cutting trees nationally with
a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Programme that incentivizes farmers to protect
watersheds, conserve biodiversity, and capture carbon.
 Through this incentive scheme, Costa Rica avoided the puritanical approach that saw
only old-growth primary forest as worth protecting, and encouraged farmers and other
rural land-owners to not only conserve existing forest, but to replant new secondary
forests.
 These secondary forests have been critical to Costa Rica’s reforestation success story,
providing vital connections between existing stands of forest while at the same time
absorbing more carbon and providing more habitat for the nation’s unique wildlife.
 The money paid to farmers and rural land-owners comes from FONAFIFO – the
government of Costa Rica’s forestry fund, which is financed predominantly through
taxes on fossil fuels. In the first 20 years of its existence, this fund has allowed for the
reforestation of over one-fifth of Costa Rica’s total land area with over seven million
trees planted (FONAFIFO-MINAE, 2022).