The Potential of REDD to Conserve the Amazon River System

River systems, such as the Amazon, are closely interdependent
with riparian and upland forests, making them vulnerable to  changes in forest cover and land use.  By reducing deforestation and forest degradation REDD can contribute significantly to  maintaining the stability of flow regimes and the overall resilience  of the aquatic system.   However, REDD by itself will have little or no direct effect on the impacts of other important drivers of river degradation, such as dams, urban and mining pollution and overfishing.  Mitigation of the impacts of these drivers depends on integrating REDD into a more comprehensive management framework such as that of integrated river basin management.  Such integration would not only better capture the cobenefits REDD provides to the aquatic system, it also would be more effective in creating regional environmental conditions conducive to forest conservation.  Furthermore, by linking forest and water  conservation, the local noncash benefits of REDD are made more
concrete for local populations.