This training manual shares hands-on experiences from field programs and presents the essential practical and theoretical steps, methods and tools to estimate the opportunity costs of REDD+ at the national level. REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. REDD+ additionally includes conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks in developing countries. The manual addresses the calculation of costs and benefits of the various land use alternatives in relation to their carbon stocks and the identification of economic trade-offs involved in REDD+ activities. As required data are generally not readily available, the manual also includes information on data collection, analysis and evaluation techniques.

This manual is a collective effort of the Facility Management Team of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the World Bank Institute Carbon Finance Assist program (CF-Assist), the World Bank Institute Climate Change Practice (WBI-CC) and the Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins (ASB) of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR)

The target audience of the manual includes professionals within governments, universities, research institutions, international or non-governmental organizations and program developers who may use the presented methods and tools to estimate opportunity costs and incorporate these costs into recommendations for REDD+ policies and programs. As part of a capacity building objective, a series of training-of-trainer workshops is scheduled for countries participating in the FCPF and UN-REDD Programme in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

For more information, including powerpoint presentations, lectures, workbooks and spreadsheets, please visit the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility website here: Forest Carbon Partnership Facility.

Download the training manual here: Developing a national REDD+ strategy.