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Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation
and Enhancing Environmental Services in Tropical Forests (REDDES)
Tropical forests play a vital role in sustaining a large
proportion of the world’s biodiversity, maintaining land-use options
and water resources, contributing to the carbon cycle and providing other
key services to forest-dependent people. The ITTA, 2006, commits ITTO
to promoting a ‘better understanding of the contribution of …
environmental services to the sustainable management of tropical forests
with the aim of enhancing the capacity of members to develop strategies
to strengthen such contributions in the context of sustainable forest
management…’.
Tropical forests provide an important service by protecting
watersheds that supply forestdwelling and urban communities with high-quality
water. Some ITTO member countries have developed payment schemes for environmental
services related to watershed management, which could inform similar initiatives
in other tropical countries. Tropical forests are also of enormous importance
for the conservation of biodiversity. They contain more species than other
biomes and a high proportion of these species are threatened. Services
such as these and others, including carbon storage and disaster prevention,
may be achieved simultaneously through sustainable forest management.
Deforestation and forest degradation in tropical forests
have reduced the quality of many forest environmental services. Often,
poorly implemented timber harvesting has damaged remaining trees and caused
soil erosion and compaction, while the conversion of forests to other
land uses has also led to the loss or degradation of many services. The
introduction or strengthening of sustainable forest management, forest
restoration, afforestation and reforestation in such areas can play an
important role in restoring environmental services and reducing emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation. ITTO has a long track record
of working with member countries and partners to promote such activities
through field projects and capacity-building.
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