ECO-ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF IMPLEMENTING REDD+ IN INDIA: COST AND BENEFIT APPROACH

BIBHU PRASAD SAHOO¹*, KARMAN KAUR², NEERAJ JAIN^3
1Department of Commerce, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi 110021
²Department of Economics, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi 110021
³Department of Commerce, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi 110021
* Corresponding Author : bibhusahoo2000@yahoo.co.in

Received : 14-01-2017     Accepted : 05-02-2017     Published : 24-02-2017
Volume : 9     Issue : 9       Pages : 3925 - 3929
Int J Agr Sci 9.9 (2017):3925-3929

Keywords : REDD+, Cost-benefit Analysis, Sensitivity Analysis
Academic Editor : Amarnath Tripathi, Bimal Kishore Sahoo, Sarangi Tapas
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Author are thankful to SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi for cooperating during the research
Author Contribution : None declared

The Global warming is one of the most important issue worldwide. The primary cause of global warming is taken to be the burning of oil and gas. But according to IPCC reports, major amount of GHG released in the atmosphere each year is caused by deforestation and forest degradation in tropical regions. It is the second largest source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon Sequestration which is defined as the ability of the trees to capture carbon from the atmosphere, is a natural combat for these harmful emissions. So, forests play a very important role in carbon sequestration. The more forests we have, the more carbon we can capture, and the more carbon we capture, the fewer greenhouse gases we contribute to the atmosphere. Forestry projects are very popular in the voluntary carbon market largely due to their tangible nature and characteristics like ecosystem services, conservation, and biodiversity and community benefits. One such example is REDD+. It involves creating an incentive to reduce carbon emissions by avoiding deforestation and land degradation. In this paper, attempt is made to find the economic viability of implementing REDD+, a voluntary market mechanism which involves incentivizing developing countries to stop deforestation and forest degradation in exchange of payment by the developed countries, who wish to achieve their greenhouse gas concentration targets. Andhra Pradesh, the state with the highest deforestation rate in the country has been chosen for the study. The net revenues to the farmers from undertaking the REDD+ program and from the next best uses of forest land i.e. using the land for Rice plantation has been calculated. It was found that REDD+ comes out to be the most profitable option for the farmers of Andhra Pradesh. The effect of uncertainty was also taken into account by doing a sensitivity analysis of the results. The fact that REDD+ still came out to be highly profitable ensures that the model is efficient and robust even in case of uncertainty.