This paper presents the results of a preliminary survey of emerging demonstration and readiness activities to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and carbon stock enhancement (REDD+) across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The survey was conducted between November and December 2008, and the information collected was updated until May 2009. While the results of the survey offer a useful snapshot of the landscape of REDD+ activities, they do not capture all the dynamics associated with this rapidly evolving field. As the international debate on REDD+ continues, some projects surveyed may have changed their core objectives and activities, while others may never get off the ground. Another limitation of the survey is the ongoing lack of any clear definition of what constitutes a REDD+ demonstration activity. Despite these shortcomings, this survey offers insights on current trends to inform future REDD+ investments. In total the survey found over 100 REDD+ activities: 44 demonstration activities, 65 readiness activities (including those by the Forest Carbon Partnerhship Facility and the UN-REDD Programme) and 12 activities where carbon is not an explicit goal. Indonesia has by far the most demonstration activities in the pipeline, making Asia the region with the largest number of REDD+ activities. Many projects (68%) are still in the planning stage. A preliminary assessment of incipient REDD+ investments shows the following. First, REDD+ initiatives, especially demonstration activities, tend to target countries where deforestation or the risk of deforestation is significant, which suggests realised carbon effectiveness considerations. Second, poor governance contexts do not discourage REDD+ investments, although cost-efficiency considerations may suggest otherwise. Third, although there is scope for natural equity and co-benefits, there is also a risk of trade-offs between carbon effectiveness and cobenefits. Dry forests – where many rural poor live and where there are high levels of biodiversity – tend to be carbon poor and, thus, feature far less in REDD+ demonstration activities than humid forests. Balancing trade-offs between cost-effectiveness and co-benefit considerations will likely become a central challenge for REDD+ policies and activities. Spatially explicit, high-resolution, environmental and socioeconomic data can offer new scope for REDD+ investments to enhance carbon goals while securing REDD+ co-benefits. Policy makers, donors, and other investors in REDD+ and/or REDD+ co-benefits could assemble such data to enhance their investment choices, monitor their outcomes, and thus provide valuable lessons to inform the national and global REDD+ architecture. Although performance-based payments analogous to payments for environmental services (PES) are core features of the REDD+ idea, the survey further shows that REDD+ policies will require more than PES-type REDD+ schemes. Investments in improved governance and broader policy reforms are equally important to address the root causes of forest emissions. Finding the right policy mix in different country contexts is an important challenge ahead.

Source: CIFOR

Tags: carbon , environmental , UN-REDD

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REDD preliminary survey	Emerging REDD+: a preliminary survey of demonstration and readiness activities	978 Kb

The state of REDD negotiations: consensus points, options for moving forward and research needs to support the process

The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) commissioned this report from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) to summarize the current state of negotiations towards a decision in Copenhagen, specifically outlining areas of consensus, options for resolving areas where consensus has not yet been reached, and priorities for research to support successful implementation of an international REDD Programme following a decision at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Copenhagen.

Source: CIFOR

Tags: CIFOR , consensus points , negotiations , UN-REDD

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REDD negotiations	The state of REDD negotiations: consensus points, options for moving forward and research needs to support the process by CIFOR	712 Kb

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) started as a global initiative. Much of the initial debate has focussed on the global REDD+ architecture and how REDD+ can be included in a post-2012 climate agreement. But the debates and the focus of actions have now increasingly moved to national and local levels. More than 40 countries are developing national REDD+ strategies and policies, and hundreds of REDD+ projects have been initiated across the tropics. This book wants to inform these national and local processes, by asking some basic questions: How are participating countries going to reduce emissions and increase carbon stocks that they hope to be paid for through global mechanisms? What new institutions, processes, policies, and projects are needed? What are the options in these areas, and how do they compare?

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Source: CIFOR

Tags: climate change , REDD+

The Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), at its first session, invited Parties and accredited observer organizations to provide additional information, views and proposals on paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan (decision 1/CP.13), as may be required for each session. It requested the secretariat to post these submissions on the UNFCCC website. The AWG-LCA, at its second session, further requested the secretariat to compile such submissions from Parties and intergovernmental organizations into separate miscellaneous documents, and make them available one week prior to the respective sessions for consideration by the AWG-LCA. The secretariat received six such submissions from six intergovernmental organizations between 15 June 2009 and 17 September 2009. In accordance with the procedure for miscellaneous documents, these submissions are contained in this document and reproduced in the language in which they were received and without formal editing.

Source: unfccc.int

Tags: AWG-LCA , Bali Action Plan , document

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AWG-LCA Bali Action Plan	Ideas and proposals on the elements contained in paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan .Submissions from intergovernmental organizations	1105 Kb