Using spatial information to support decisions on safeguards and multiple benefits for REDD+ in Tanzania

REDD+ has the potential to contribute to achieving more policy goals than climate mitigation alone. In Tanzania, REDD+ is expected to deliver multiple benefits, whose nature and extent will depend on the location and type of REDD+ activity implemented. These benefits include sustainable use of forest resources, biodiversity conservation, poverty alleviation, maintenance of forest dependent communities' rights, and improved community livelihoods. The REDD+ safeguards agreed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are intended to guide REDD+ implementation to avoid adverse effects to people and the environment, and to ensure multiple benefits. During the last years, the Tanzanian Forest Service has produced a unique set of forest, socioeconomic and governance related data and maps from 32 000 field inventory plots and interviews with 3500 households and 1100 key informants, which among other sources of data have been used for the production of analysis and maps in this publication.