- An initiative that aims to slow global warming by paying developing countries to protect and better manage their forests is expected to be an important storyline during climate talks in Doha this week and next.
- REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), as the mechanism is known, has grown in complexity since it gained momentum during the 2005 climate talks in Montreal, but is arguably moving forward faster than other areas of climate negotiations.
- Still, many elements of REDD+ continue to be as hotly debated today as they were five years ago when it got the conceptual OK from the U.N.
Rainforest logging. Photo by Rhett Butler.
An initiative that aims to slow global warming by paying developing countries to protect and better manage their forests is expected to be an important storyline during climate talks in Doha this week and next. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), as the mechanism is known, has grown in complexity since it gained momentum during the 2005 climate talks in Montreal, but is arguably moving forward faster than other areas of climate negotiations. Still, many elements of REDD+ continue to be as hotly debated today as they were five years ago when it got the conceptual OK from the U.N. These include the process for establishing baselines to measure reductions in emissions, safeguards to protect against adverse outcomes for biodiversity and forest-dependent communities, and financing and markets.
These issues are explored in a number of backgrounders from NGOs produced ahead of, and during, the Doha talks. A small selection follows:
Rainforest in Borneo. Photo by Rhett Butler.
REDD+ Overviews
- Ecosystem Marketplace: REDD In Doha: What You Need To Know
- REDD-Monitor.org: REDD at COP18, Doha: What’s on the agenda?
- Environmental Defense Fund: REDD+ almost at the finish line: Doha preview
- Forest Peoples Programme: “REDD+ and Indigenous Peoples: Analysis of the upcoming negotiations in Doha, and identification of possible policy options
- CIFOR: Will uncertainty over new climate agreement prolong the REDD+ stalemate?
- International Institute for Sustainable Development: Scenarios and Sticking Points under the Durban Platform: The Long and Winding Road to 2020.
Baselines / Reference levels
There is growing consensus that is is indeed possible to establish baselines and measure reductions in emissions from deforestation, but the details for doing so remain unsettled. Among the outstanding issues in REDD+ discussions are criteria for establishing credible deforestation baselines; technical aspects of monitoring and verifying change in forest cover; concerns over poor governance and illegal logging; international leakage, whereby forest conservation in one country drives deforestation in another; scale of implementation, including the debate over “national” versus “sub-national” projects, including the Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF) (Greenpeace vs. the GCF).
some indigenous and community-based organizations oppose any form of REDD, while others have become active participants in the discussion and even embraced the mechanism as a means to strengthen their land rights. There remain many questions about equity, the distribution of benefits, and the types of activities — such as selective logging — that would potentially qualify for REDD.
Financing
Industrialized nations have pledged more than $7.3 billion in funding to jump start the first phase of REDD, but research by several groups suggests there has been relatively little follow through from most.
- Ecosystem Marketplace: Tracking REDD+ Finance: Separating The Payers From The Posers
- Ecosystem Marketplace: Germany Beats Fast-Start Finance Commitment But Sees Need For More Scale
- Climate Analytics: German Fast Start: Lessons Learned for Long-Term Finance
- FAO/UNEP: Voluntary REDD+ Database
- World Resources Institute: Independent Fast Start Finance Tracking
- The REDD Desk: REDD Countries Database
- Ecosystem Marketplace: REDD Funding: The Horror Story That Isn’t
- IIED: The eight unmet promises of fast-start climate finance
Another key point of debate has been whether REDD+ will ultimately by funded by aid or whether markets will have some role in financing. At the center of the discussion is whether carbon offsets actually reduce emissions. Along these lines, an interesting back-and-forth has opened up between the Rainforest Foundation UK and UN REDD over the former’s Rainforest Roulette report.
- Rights and Resources Initiative: Should public or private money finance efforts to save forests?
- Greenpeace: REDD+ Window in the Green Climate Fund