At the heart of REDD+: a role for local people in monitoring forests?

This report makes the case that local people can collect forest condition data of comparable quality to trained scientists, at half the cost, and could provide a solution to the challenge of cost-effective monitoring for REDD+, as well as contribution to improved livelihoods and forest biodiversity conservation. It draws on the authors’ experience from study sites in India, Tanzania and Madagascar to identify advantages and risks, and to propose how and under what conditions local community-based REDD+ monitoring could be established.