Forestry methodology.
V4 forestry methodology grounded in VM0015, VM0007 with NDVI integration and Hansen Global Forest Change analysis.
Overview
India's forestry carbon projects span REDD+, improved forest management, and afforestation and reforestation. The dominant Verra methodologies are VM0015 (for REDD+ with nested accounting), VM0007 (for REDD+ without nested accounting), and sectoral approaches to community forestry. V4's forestry methodology extends these frameworks with ISRO Bhuvan satellite land-cover data, FSI biennial forest inventory cross-checks, and a structured Hindi-language community interview protocol that specifically probes for tenure disputes and encroachment risks that are routinely absent from project design documents filed with registries.
The gap
Global methodologies lack India-specific forest density data and Hindi-language community verification for tenure rights.
V4 extensions
- +ISRO Bhuvan land-cover integration
- +FSI biennial forest inventory data
- +Hindi-language community interview protocol for tenure verification
- +Hansen Global Forest Change deforestation analysis
Assessment pillars for forestry projects
Additionality (project baseline)
Permanence (leakage and reversal risk)
Monitoring (NDVI and field)
Social safeguards (community tenure)
Environmental safeguards (biodiversity)
Common findings in forestry projects
- -Baseline overestimation in degraded forests
- -Community tenure disputes not captured in PDD
- -NDVI-calculated sequestration exceeding claimed amounts
- -Post-issuance deforestation in buffer zones
Methodology update log
FSI data integration updated to incorporate 2023-25 biennial inventory cycle.
Hansen Global Forest Change threshold revised from 30% to 25% canopy cover for India-specific forest definition.
Hindi-language community interview protocol extended to include encroachment mapping questions.
NDVI baseline period standardised to 2015-2020 for all new forestry assessments.