Well defined requirements and associated design decisions underpin the creation of a national forest monitoring and reporting system and should:

• reflect decisions of the UNFCCC COP in setting the scope of REDD+ activities and the overall policy framework;
• be consistent with methodological guidance developed by IPCC for greenhouse gas inventories for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and removals; and reflect efficient use of existing institutions and frameworks to minimize establishment and operational costs.

National Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMS) should build on existing systems to make effective use of resources and provide data that are transparent and consistent over time and suitable for Measurement Reporting and Verification including some or all of the following design decisions:

• data collection, analysis, QA/QC and archiving processes
• forest definition and stratification descriptions to enable land use/land cover reporting
• consistency between reference levels, REDD+ reporting and GHGI reporting