State of the Rainforest 2014

All these approaches currently go under the name of REDD+, but their practices vary greatly. This makes it difficult to analyse precisely what REDD+ is, and what it has achieved. A few trends can nevertheless be distinguished. 56 First, while the underlying assumption for many REDD+ initiatives has been that the money required to incentivize reduced deforestation would be generated mainly through carbon markets, most current REDD+ efforts are financed by public funds – generally counted as official development assistance (ODA). In total, various public sources are estimated to contribute around USD 3 billion annually to REDD+ and related efforts, while the carbon market so far contributes only some 140 million. 57 Second, while the idea of REDD+ is to pay for results in the form of actual, measurable reductions in deforestation and forest degradation, most of the finance so far has gone into the preparatory phases: preparing strategies and plans for future results-based payments, reforming laws, building systems for monitoring deforestation, smaller-scale pilot projects, etc. Few countries have moved to the phase where they are paid per tonne of CO 2 emissions they actually reduce. 58 Third, much of this ‘readiness work’ has shown that the barriers to reducing deforestation might not simply be a lack of economic incentives, as implied by the original idea of REDD+. 59 It has become clear that if REDD+ is to be successful, attention must be paid to a wide range of social and political issues – including forest governance, and recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. This has led to discussion on whether REDD+ should support not only emissions reductions but also wider ‘non- carbon’ benefits, such as strengthened land rights for indigenous peoples, improved livelihoods for communities, and conservation of biological diversity. 60

Experience on the ground indicates that where this broader approach to REDD+ has been chosen, potentially significant results have been achieved. In Indonesia, for example, the REDD+ process and the support pledged from the government of Norway have resulted in concrete policy changes, including a moratorium on new forest concessions in primary forest and peat lands and strengthened government coordination on forest policy. In other countries, among them the Democratic Republic of the Congo, REDD+ processes have given civil society and indigenous peoples a greater role in forest policymaking, opening the door for improved policies to fight deforestation in the future. Only carbon? However, there is reason for concern, as other REDD+ initiatives are still proceeding on the basis of a narrow focus on carbon emissions, with insufficient attention to the broader political context of deforestation. Some programmes, such as certain REDD+ initiatives from the World Bank, seem to be rushing into results-based payments for emissions reductions in a manner that sidesteps inclusive consultation processes and fails to implement social and environmental safeguards adequately. 61 With discussions now underway on a new international climate change agreement for the period after 2020, it is not yet clear whether REDD+ will move toward a narrow focus on greenhouse gas emissions in order to attract future funding from carbon markets, or whether lessons from previous ‘readiness work’, showing the need for a broader approach, will be taken on board. As the bulk of funding for REDD+ is likely to come from public sources in the foreseeable future, policymakers would be well advised to accept that if the protection of tropical forests is to be effective in the long run, it must build on the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and must recognize the full range of benefits (carbon and non-carbon) that these forests provide.

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

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