Experts gathered last month in Mexico to strengthen the country’s MRV system and share experiences on REDD+ in the region.

To advance towards a better strategy to estimate carbon stored in Mexican forests, national and international experts met in Guadalajara, Mexico 9-10 August to discuss methodological and practical challenges of the project “Reinforcing REDD+ Readiness in Mexico and enabling South-South cooperation"-- the main outcome of the cooperation between Norway and Mexico on Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for REDD+.

Experts from Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia, France, Holland, Italy and Mexico attended the meeting, as well as representatives of the National Forestry Commission of Mexico (CONAFOR), National Institute of Statistic and Geography (INEGI), and investigation institutions, such as El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR). Participants in the meeting recognized Mexico’s potential to estimate carbon in its forests, thanks to the improvements made in its technical tools and methodology and the international financial support it continues to receive. Mexico is now closer to drafting a report of carbon at the highest possible level with guidelines from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Samples of good quality collected during the forest inventory are key to guarantee that laboratory results include the estimates of carbon in five areas (biomass aboveground and underground, soil, organic mulch, and deadwood), especially the information of the carbon and the dry weight (oven-dried biomass). Choosing the right allometric model tools was deemed by participants in the meeting as vital to obtain the best measurement results. A recommendation was to obtain the original data used in the construction of the models in order to generate new models with known uncertainties and a group of well-known trees. Statistical criteria were also discussed to make a logical choice of models that provide results close to reality.

The project will also seek to incorporate the authors and researchers who have developed the allometric models in the country to create a group of experts in allometry, to facilitate the sharing of data for allometric modeling optimized for reporting carbon at a national level. It has also been proposed to design a validation protocol to revise the variation of the estimations on the field.

Finally, methods in line with IPCC guidelines will be used to maintain consistency in the estimates, with the help of a group of experts and technical support from the UN-REDD Programme, through FAO. With the implementation of these measures, the project plans to gradually strengthen Mexico's forest monitoring system and increase the accuracy of forest carbon estimates over time. 

To read the outcomes of the meeting in Spanish click here.
(Reunion de expertos: Estimacion de carbono en bosques mexicanos-Agosto 2012)