Tracking Transformative Forest Actions to Reduce Emissions

The paper examines the data needs for monitoring national forest emission reduction strategies, arguing that tracking metrics beyond just emissions reductions is necessary for effective policy design, securing finance, and domestic decision-making. Using illegal logging in Peru and Indonesia as a focal point, it explores the differences between domestic and international measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) requirements.

• Forests are critical to the global carbon budget because emissions from land use change, specifically deforestation, account for approximately 12–15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while forests simultaneously serve as a carbon sink.
• International climate negotiations under the UNFCCC's Bali Action Plan and the subsequent REDD+ framework emphasize a "performance-based" or "results-based" approach, requiring countries to measure, report, and verify (MRV) their actions to mitigate emissions.
• There are three primary reasons why countries should track activities and outcomes beyond simple emissions reductions: the difficulty of using emissions as a short-term performance metric for complex actions, the need to demonstrate results to donors to secure financing (grants, loans, or sales), and the requirement for domestic decision-makers to have diverse data to assess progress toward climate goals.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Tracking Transformative Forest Actions to Reduce Emissions. https://www.wri.org/research/tracking-transformative-forest-actions-reduce-emissions

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Tracking Transformative Forest Actions to Reduce Emissions. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/tracking-transformative-forest-actions-reduce-emissions.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Tracking Transformative Forest Actions to Reduce Emissions |url=https://www.wri.org/research/tracking-transformative-forest-actions-reduce-emissions |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendtracking, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Tracking Transformative Forest Actions to Reduce Emissions}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/tracking-transformative-forest-actions-reduce-emissions}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }