Practitioner perspective on REDD: Commercial challenges in project‐based rainforest protection financing in the Asia Pacific region

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents a practitioner perspective on community‐based REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) projects in the Pacific Islands. It draws upon the author's experience in forest conservation financing since 1987, and REDD project and programme design, development and implementation since 2006. The aim is to highlight the commercial challenges faced by REDD practitioners, and explore strategic (including policy) solutions to meet these challenges. The paper begins by situating REDD as a tool for forest conservation and community development. Following a brief overview of the key elements of REDD project development procedures, the paper examines commercial (particularly market access) challenges faced by project proponents, together with challenges associated with the supply and demand dynamic for REDD credits in the global carbon market. This is situated against a backdrop of global policy stagnation in the REDD sector and the implications of this for those at the frontier of community‐based forest protection efforts on the ground. The paper culminates by showing the importance of an effective partnership between governments, rainforest communities and the private sector in regional and global rainforest conservation financing.