Nigerian Journal Sustainability Research

Publications

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2026): From Theory to Action: Implementing Sustainability Principles

Regulating Anthropogenic Emission of Greenhouse Gas in the Afolu Sector by Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation

Submitted
June 1, 2026
Published
2026-07-12

Abstract

The Agriculture, Forestry, and other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for a significant amount of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Ensuring that the global mean temperature should be less than 2°C by 2030 above pre-industrial level is being advocated by the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This has led to the emergence of ‘Reducing Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus forest carbon conservation, sustainable forest management, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). The UNFCCC instituted the REDD+ as a global payment system to discourage GHG emission from the forest sector. The aim of this study is to review articles on the United Nations’ REDD+ initiative to control human-induced GHG emissions in the AFOLU sector. The study was started with a literature search of papers that were published between 2015 and 2024. A total of 2,735 papers was retrieved of which only 38 satisfied the inclusion requirements for the review. The included papers were thoroughly read, analysed, and discussed in detail. Particularly, the author reviewed AFOLU; REDD+; Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for MRV; as well as the economic significance of REDD+. Summarily, it was concluded that the REDD+ has significant positive implication for many countries, reduction of GHG emissions, and climate change mitigation.

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