Capacity development in national forest monitoring

Book excerpt: The development of a system for forest monitoring and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) is an on-going priority – and challenge – for REDD+ countries. Although many countries already have some form of national forest monitoring in place, the existing capacity often falls short of the level required to participate fully in REDD+. In this context, a group of experts from around the world met in September 2012 to share their experiences and to discuss some of the central – and at times controversial – issues for national forest monitoring readiness and REDD+.