Jamaica’s Forestry Dept. Intrigued by REDD

By: Petre Williams-Raynor on October 21st, 2009

Jamaica’s Forestry Department has cautiously supported the inking of a deal on the use of forests to help curtail the effects of climate change, which threatens the survival of many island nations.

The deal, to be embodied in the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanism, could also see Jamaica attracting millions of dollars of foreign investment to support forest management for storing carbon.

REDD, which proposes to pay countries that are willing and able to reduce emissions from deforestation, is to come up for discussion at the crucial upcoming United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

“It [REDD] is something that I think is necessary and very important for Jamaica,” said the chief executive officer of the Forestry Department, Marilyn Headley.

She noted that funds earned from such a mechanism could be channeled, for example, into the reforestation of the island’s Yallahs watershed, which is the primary water source for the Kingston Metropolitan Area and St Thomas. Agriculture practices in such areas could also be improved, Headley said.

She was, however, quick to add that the government had yet to work through the details of how they would wish the mechanism to work and the full extent to which the island could actually benefit.

“I don’t think we have started as a country to really look at it. But I know we are going to have to do it before Copenhagen. We hope that we will have a lot more information on it before Copenhagen,” said Headley, who is also the island’s conservator of forests.

REDD emerged out of the UN negotiations in Montreal in 2005. At the UN climate change summit in Bali, Indonesia in 2007, it was decided that any effort to countering climate change should include “policy 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.”

The debate over exactly how REDD is to operate rages on. There are those who believe that monies to be awarded under REDD should be given directly to local people and particularly indigenous people who reside on and/or rely on forest lands for their livelihoods while there at those who believe the money should be given directly to governments. There are also concerns over how to prevent corruption and/or the misappropriation of funds once awarded.