Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Research Articles

The geography of avoided deforestation and sustainable forest management offsets: the enduring question of additionality

ABSTRACT Avoided deforestation and sustainable forest management (AD/SFM) offset projects have developed piecemeal, lacking consensus standards and receiving only quite low carbon prices. The diverse forces project developers face have led to a complex geography of different offsetting standards and funding sources adopted by various projects. Combining and updating existing AD/SFM pilot project databases, we produce – to our knowledge – the largest publicly available dataset of such projects’ approximate locations, containing nearly 800 worldwide. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we analyze the geography of these AD/SFM offset projects to understand better how different pressures project developers face in this weakly consolidated field have shaped where projects are more and less likely to be undertaken. We find that, at a fifty-kilometre-per-side hexagonal resolution, both AD/SFM projects tend to be located in areas with high above-ground biomass and high IUCN Red List species richness. Additionally, AD projects tend to be located in areas with stronger deforestation drivers. There is also a clear geographic specialization, with over 85% of the SFM projects in our dataset located in the United States. In contrast, AD projects have generally been established in countries that have engaged with the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) Programme or the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. While AD/SFM projects may not be avoiding emissions at levels estimated in existing offset systems, they might still have a role to play in climate and habitat protection.

Actors participation and power relations of REDD+ implementation in Bale Eco Region, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The study focuses on actor participation and power dynamics in the REDD+ project within the Bale eco-region, a vital facet of global climate policy for sustainable forest resource management. The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) of the World Bank supports developing countries in preparing for international REDD+ policy implementation, emphasizing the necessity of effective actor participation. The study uses text documents, Socio metric survey, and interviews with project actors and participants. This study employs both qualitative framework and social network analysis (SNA). While SNA looks at power dynamics and interactions between actors, the qualitative framework allows for a comprehensive evaluation of actor participation. The social network data was analyzed using an open source software called NodeXL. Results show that Bale eco-region REDD+ involves actors from different groups. Actors contribute to national strategies, funding, capacity building, and knowledge sharing. However, local communities have limited involvement in decision-making, lack knowledge sharing and capacity building. This hinders the implementation process and contributes to unequal power dynamics and lack the comprehensive input needed for effective and tailored strategies in the region. Calculated centrality values highlight a strong alliance among Ethiopia's national government entity overseeing REDD+ Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC), and the regional entities Oromiya Forest and Wildlife Enterprise (OFWI), as well as Farm Africa, indicating significant institutional power across national and local levels. EFCCC holds influence in decision-making and strategy development, while OFWI wields substantial regional institutional power in information control and collaboration. Thus, climate policies must prioritize involvement of local communities in decision-making, capacity development, and resource accessibility. This helps to tackle power imbalances through collaborative governance structures. It also enables stakeholders to actively manage forests through imparting skills, knowledge and share benefits equally.

Towards REDD+ implementation: Deforestation and forest degradation drivers, REDD+ financing, and readiness activities in participant countries

This study provides an assessment of dominant drivers of deforestation and forest degradation across 29 REDD+ participant countries and total funds disbursed from the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility to 15 participant countries since they signed their respective Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PPs), as well as what they spent the grants on. This study aims to provide information for policymakers and donors on the need to invest in REDD+, as well as the need for participant countries to channel funds to key activities for effectively and efficiently implementing REDD+. The assessment is based on participant countries’ R-PPs and FCPF readiness fund progress reports, using a content analysis approach. The expansion of agriculture, which includes both commercial and subsistence agriculture, was the predominant driver of deforestation, while logging, such as industrial and small-scale exploitation, was the main driver of forest degradation in most participating countries. In addition, we observed that the 15 participant countries received a total of USD 702.36 million for REDD+ readiness preparation. However, most countries have received less than USD 10 million for their readiness-related activities. We observed a huge disparity regarding the funds received between countries from sub-Saharan Africa and their Asian and Latin American counterparts, particularly Indonesia and Peru, respectively. Furthermore, almost all countries have spent their funds on policy and strategy development, stakeholder and consultation events, and public awareness creation. Relatively small amounts have been spent on capacity building and training. Thus, international donors need to focus on strengthening institutional capacities and building effective forest governance structures in countries participating in REDD+, and they should also provide platforms to engage with participant countries to tackle the main deforestation and forest degradation drivers. We suggest further studies to identify high-performing countries that have received lower-than-average funding, consider their deforestation pressures, the size of forests, and the emission reduction potential.

Capacity Development for Use of Remote Sensing for REDD+ MRV Using Online and Offline Activities: Impacts and Lessons Learned

Four workshops and a webinar series were organized, with the aim of building capacity in countries to use Earth Observation Remote Sensing data to monitor forest cover changes and measure emissions reductions for REDD+ results-based payments. Webinars and workshops covered a variety of relevant tools and methods. The initiative was collaboratively organised by a number of Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) partner institutions with funding from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The collaborative approach with multiple partners proved to be efficient and was able to reach a large audience, particularly in the case of the webinars. However, the impact in terms of use of tools and training of others after the events was higher for the workshops. In addition, engagement with experts was higher from workshop participants. In terms of efficiency, webinars are significantly cheaper to organize. A hybrid approach might be considered for future initiatives; and, this study of the effectiveness of both in-person and online capacity building can guide the development of future initiatives, something that is particularly pertinent in a COVID-19 era.

Improving uncertainty in forest carbon accounting for REDD+ mitigation efforts

Reductions in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are urgently needed to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of warming. Reducing deforestation and forest degradation presents a climate change mitigation opportunity critical to meeting Paris Agreement goals. One strategy for decreasing carbon emissions from forests is to provide developing countries with results-based financial incentives for reducing deforestation: nearly two billion dollars are currently committed to finance such programs, referred to as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks). Countries participating in these programs must document the uncertainty in their estimates of emissions and emission reductions, and payments are reduced if uncertainties are high. Our examination of documentation submitted to date to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) reveals that uncertainties are commonly underestimated, both by omitting important sources of uncertainty and by incorrectly combining uncertainties. Here, we offer recommendations for addressing common problems in estimating uncertainty in emissions and emission reductions. Better uncertainty estimates will enable countries to improve forest carbon accounting, contribute to better informed forest management, and support efforts to track global greenhouse gas emissions. It will also strengthen confidence in markets for climate mitigation efforts. Demand by companies for nature-based carbon credits is growing and if such credits are used for offsets, in exchange for fossil fuel emissions, it is essential that they represent accurately quantified emissions reductions.

Mapping national REDD+ initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are pioneers in the implementation of climate change mitigation initiatives. They have implemented readiness activities to fulfil the requirements for results-based payments from the forestry sector (termed REDD+). Using content analysis, a questionnaire, and a series of workshops with key stakeholders, we mapped the REDD + readiness of 11 Asia-Pacific countries with respect to UNFCCC's resolutions on REDD+. Their status was mapped against the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which constitutes the five design elements of the Warsaw REDD + Framework and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) requirements. While the overall achievements vary across the studied countries, our results demonstrate that Vietnam, Nepal, and Indonesia are in an advanced stage of REDD + readiness. A significant number of conditional NDCs and timely and adequate technical and financial support are imperative for the studied countries to achieve a high level of readiness. However, lack of trust and coordination among the state and non-state actors, limited national participation of Civil Society Organizations and Indigenous Peoples in REDD + related committees, and conflicts among regulatory frameworks related to forestry and other land uses remain common challenges for these countries. These challenges risk disrupting the essence of REDD + as a multi-level, multi-stage and multi-stakeholder governance system. Stakeholders in these countries are optimistic about a better performance of REDD + regarding emission reduction, enhanced livelihoods, improved forest governance and improvement in biodiversity. However, any optimism is challenged by stakeholder's own suspicion of the effectiveness of REDD + projects to achieve permanency and control leakage/displacement. Building political will and the development of context-specific benefit-sharing plans and their effective implementation could be important keys to maintaining optimism of stakeholders about REDD + initiatives.

REDD+: If communities are the solution, what is the problem?

Abstract While mainstream academic literature over the past ten years has tended to identify commercial and industrialized agriculture as the primary driver of deforestation, national plans for REDD+ (as exemplified by proposals to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility for funding) focus strongly on ‘communities’ and local actors. This is partly to ensure that communities are not harmed by the program, and may benefit from it; but the documents show that in most cases they are in fact envisaged as the primary actors in the REDD+ implementation. In concordance with this, most of the national proposals identify small scale local actors as the agents behind deforestation much more often than large scale outside actors. Moreover, most assign more weight to REDD+ activities directed to small scale actors than even their own analysis of drivers would imply, quite apart from global understanding about who is responsible for forest loss. We suggest that this seeming policy inconsistency can be explained through an understanding of problem framing. We show that the ‘communities’ narrative may implicitly rest on earlier, now largely discredited explanations of the causes of deforestation (shifting cultivation and other traditional practices). However this narrative is attractive today from a variety of other positions, and we suggest that it represents a policy case of a solution looking for a problem.

REDD+ measurement, reporting and verification – A cost trap? Implications for financing REDD+MRV costs by result-based payments

The REDD+ initiative applies a market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The difference between the carbon stock of forests under historical deforestation and forest degradation rates and the actual C-stock achieved by forest conservation measures will be compensated financially. The difference in C-stocks is provided by a system of measurement, reporting and verification (MRV).We investigated trade-offs between costs and revenue of a REDD+ MRV system by applying a simulation study focusing on varying forest degradation intensities in natural forests. We showed the decisive influence of cost on the efficiency of REDD+. Resulting payments could be too low or even negative, especially in high forest low deforestation countries. Under current carbon process countries implementing REDD+activities need additional financial support for the development and implementation of MRV systems. We recommend that the optimization of the MRV design must meet accuracy and cost requirements. The optimization criterion for MRV systems should not be the highest possible accuracy, but the highest possible carbon credits. This contradicts the requirements for the greatest possible accuracy, as stipulated in the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility’s (FCPF) recommendations for action.

Reducing Emissions, Forest Management and Multiactor Perspectives: Problem Representation Analysis of Laos REDD+ Programs

Every policy solution is embedded in a certain “problem representation” that is taken for granted and assumed by policymakers. This paper examines how emission reductions and forest management have been problematized for policymaking and solution implementation from multiple actors’ perspectives. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), particularly Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) programs, in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) serves as a demonstrative example. By applying the ‘What is the Problem Represented to be’ (WPR) approach as a poststructuralist method, this study first comparatively analyzes the general problem as represented by multiple actors, including the government, media, academia and civil society. In particular, queries such as what and how the “problem” is represented and what is not problematized are reflected during the analyses. Next, this research further examines the corresponding problematization gap based on drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and discusses the noncarbon benefits of FCPF in the rhetoric. The objective of the study is to not to find the best policy choice but to reveal the heterogeneity in problem representations formulated by multiple actors to yield space for alternative and disruptive change for future problem solving in emission reductions and forest management

What is Required for Advancing REDD+? (Progress to Date and Challenges Ahead)

To facilitate international discussion and research on the REDD+ framework and associated programs, I present an overview of the historical background, major rules, and challenges of implementing REDD+. The framework of REDD+ is illustrated using examples from scientific literature and the agreements adopted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The institutional challenges related to REDD+ are discussed in the context of how to promote and implement REDD+ activities. Key issues for advancing REDD+ in the future include the establishment of a financial framework, the transferability of results, the risk of double counting, the timing of payments, and the domestic distribution of funds. Because agreements related to REDD+ do not mention transfers or trade of results from REDD+ activities, the transfer of results might give disincentives to developing countries; thus, allowing transfers or trade may actually limit REDD+ activities. Therefore, it seems preferable that the results of reduced emissions and increased removals through REDD+ activities, through publicly financed programs under the UNFCCC and Green Climate Fund (GCF), should be non-transferable. The transferability of results through REDD+ activities is important to consider, especially for different schemes such as the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), because double counting can occur between countries and between schemes. Although I support advance performance-based payments for the planning and implementation of REDD+ activities, which is a similar concept to that discussed by the GCF, appropriate indicators and transparent methods for monitoring and evaluating performance will be required.

Open-access cloud resources contribute to mainstream REDD+: The case of Mozambique

The objective of this work is to investigate how Earth Observation data and processing platforms accessible on the cloud can facilitate the implementation of REDD+ in developing countries. For that, we explore newly available open-access satellite data, cloud processing, and a ready-made land cover map to assess the extent to which such resources can directly respond to monitoring and measuring, reporting, and verification requisites. Mozambique is one of the 47 countries selected to benefit from the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility to implement REDD+ strategies. However, to meet funding agreements, the country needs to periodically produce national land cover and land cover change maps at given resolution and accuracy levels. The work presented here shows that the land cover mapping requisites of REDD+ may be quickly and cost-effectively met through the development and use of newly available cloud resources. The study relies on an experimental design that tests the results of image processing approaches with algorithms available or developed in Google Earth Engine against country-wide reference data collected by a team of national experts. The results show that, in addition to pre-processing advantages, which facilitate multi-temporal compositing and mosaicking of very large and heavy data sets, developments in cloud processing and image classification swiftly produce large extent and high-resolution land cover maps, tailored to a specific objective. The comparison of results between the in-house map obtained using Google Earth Engine, and the pan-African map produced by the European Space Agency (2016) at the same spatial resolution, reveals that both maps meet REDD+ requirements for a binary Forest/Non-forest legend. However, the in-house map is more accurate and reaches considerably better results if a more complex, six class IPCC legend is required. Nevertheless, this study shows that, given adequate reference data, the need to periodically produce high resolution land cover maps for national forest monitoring purposes is no longer an obstacle for mainstreaming the implementation of REDD+.

Transnational REDD+Rule Making: The Regulatory Landscape for REDD+ Implementation in Latin America

AbstractREDD+ – an incentive mechanism to reduce deforestation and associated greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries – was developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and subsequently included in the Paris Agreement. Its early implementation activities have highlighted the role of certain intergovernmental actors: REDD+financing initiatives, including the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and Forest Investment Programme, and UN-REDD, a collaborative programme involving three agencies of the United Nations. By setting conditions for the provision of support for REDD+, these initiatives have actively and influentially engaged in REDD+rule making. This article focuses on the regulatory landscape for REDD+and examines rules developed under the UNFCCC and elaborated by the REDD+financing initiatives, using examples from the Latin American region. The analysis shows that informal lawmaking plays a more relevant role in REDD+rule making than international formal law, and has demonstrated legal and practical effects. However, informality can also tilt power relations between donor and recipient countries, which could jeopardize the legitimacy of transnational rule making.

CATATAN KESIAPAN INDONESIA UNTUK SKEMA PENGURANGAN EMISI DARI DEFORESTASI DAN DEGRADASI HUTAN

The scope of Readiness Package (R-P) for Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) nationwide and covers all the main activities that REDD+ strategy, implementation framework, reference emission level, monitoring system and safeguards. The method based on the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) guideline for R-P assessment by answers to 41 diagnostic questions for 35 readiness criteria of 5 (five) components/ 9 (nine) sub-components.Based on this study suggested that for the 1 st component of REDD+strategy, required strengthening the institutions which will implement REDD+. For the 2 st nd component of implementation framework, it is important to develop a procedure and standard for identification and mitigationdriver deforestation and degradation (DD). For the 3 rd component, the reference emissions level (REL) need to be improved by validation to rd sub-national/local data (from tier 1 to tier 3 and up to five carbon pools). For the 4 component ofMeasurement, Reproting and th Verification (MRV) system such as forest monitoring need to be strengthened the capacity of human resources, particularly people who want to join the REDD+ scheme. Finally, for the 5 th component, all the guideline related to safeguards need to be harmonized and synergized.

Five years of REDD+ governance: The use of market mechanisms as a response to anthropogenic climate change

Forest ecosystems worldwide are increasingly subjected to human intervention, leading commentators to argue that forests should be viewed as anthropogenic ecosystems. REDD+ is an emerging inter-governmental policy instrument aimed at both reducing deforestation and forest degradation and combatting climate change, whereby developed countries pay developing countries to reduce their forest-based emissions. The paper details a five-year research project to evaluate REDD+ quality of governance and develop governance standards for the mechanism. Quality of governance was evaluated in five key international institutional elements: the REDD+ related negotiations in the global climate talks; the support and funding agencies UN-REDD, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), Forest Investment Programme (FIP) and the REDD+ Partnership. This research was complemented by national level governance assessments and related standards setting initiatives in Nepal and Papua New Guinea. The researchers conclude that REDD+ confronts a number of challenges, notably around resources for capacity building, and benefit sharing. In addition, the lack of provisions for changing behaviour and solving the problem of forest-based emissions in the current safeguards render them inadequate to the task of delivering quality of governance. In the absence of consistent governance standards, REDD+ will only partially be successful in combatting climate change in the Anthropocene.

The potential of REDD+ in supporting the transition to a Green Economy in the Congo Basin

SUMMARY This study explores how the proposed activities by the Congo Basin countries to reduce drivers of land emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) could support the transition to a green economy and low carbon development future. By employing a content review and analysis of national REDD+ strategies and REDD+ readiness proposals submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, we found out that many of the proposed REDD+ activities by the Congo Basin countries including: climate smart agricultural practices and certification of large scale agricultural plantations; establishment of wood fuel energy plantations and improvement in energy efficiency; forests certification and implementation of the VPA-FLEGT; land use planning and zoning of mined sites; and the implementation of construction projects in low forested areas aligns with several green economy sectorial programmes of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). We conclude that the effective implementation...

An accurate REDD+ reference level for Terai Arc Landscape, Nepal using LiDAR assisted Multi-source Programme (LAMP)

In preparation for participation in funding mechanisms established under the United Nations’ framework for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), the Government of Nepal has developed a sub-national reference level (RL) for the 12 districts of Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) in partnership with the WWF-Nepal, WWF-US and Arbonaut Ltd., Finland. The reference level was established using LiDAR–Assisted Multisource Programme (LAMP), an innovative effort that utilizes existing national forest and survey data, field sampling, satellite imagery, and airborne LiDAR data to measure deforestation and forest degradation, regrowth and maintenance of forests, and the resulting emissions and sequestration of CO2 in the project districts for the period 1999–2011. This effort was designed to create a sub-national RL that meets the highest international standards for integrity and transparency and followed closely the guidelines of the Methodological Framework (MF) defined by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) at the World Bank and Guidelines defined by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).The present analysis shows that during the 12-year period between 1999 and 2011 a net total of 52,245,991 tons CO2 (tCO2e) was emitted from the forest sector in the TAL, an average emission of 4,353,833 tons CO2e per year. The results presented here reflect the first iteration of the TAL RL and a major milestone in an on-going process that will further refine and improve the RL in the months ahead based on external review and input and additional field verification and data analysis.Banko Janakari, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp-23-33

REDD Monitoring, Reporting and Verification Systems in Nepal: Gaps, Issues and Challenges

Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is an incentive based approach for climate change mitigation that has gained global attention. Following the global discourse and trend, Nepal is preparing herself to participate in the REDD implementation process with the financing from the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). Developing a measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system of monitoring carbon emissions is one of the most important aspects of the REDD mechanism. In this article, we analyse the existing forest resource monitoring system in Nepal with reference to requirements for the REDD MRV design as suggested in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) good practice guide. Our analytical focus revolves around understanding the current policy provisions and institutional infrastructure, as well as identifying existing gaps Similarly, we also analyse the national capacity gaps for designing and adopting the REDD MRV. Finally we have outlined possible issues and challenges for designing and implementing REDD MRV in Nepal. Based on all these aspects, we have suggested a MRV system design that would acknowledge the role of existing institutions and consider the state restructuring.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v9i1.8591 Journal of Forestry and Livelihood Vol.9(1) 2010 21-32

Natural forest disturbances and the design of REDD+ initiatives

• We review policy documents of the 36 REDD+ participant countries of the World Bank. • We examine drivers of deforestation and degradation identified in those documents. • We compare identified drivers with current knowledge on natural forest disturbances. • Reviewed documents lack knowledge of disturbance regimes and of dynamic ecosystem. • We propose four approaches to integrate disturbance regimes in REDD+ initiatives. Basing ecosystem management and conservation on the best available science is essential to meeting intended goals and minimizing surprises. To design effective, efficient, and equitable policies for the REDD+ initiatives, requires that drivers of deforestation and forest degradation are correctly identified, and that the ecological context of those drivers is correctly understood. Contemporary forest ecology and management are based on the recognition that forest ecosystems are dynamic, and that those dynamics are often driven by both anthropogenic- and naturally induced disturbances. Here we examine the degree to which the dynamic view of ecosystems is incorporated into the design of REDD+ initiatives. We conducted content analysis of the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility's 36 REDD+ participating countries’ Readiness Plan Idea Notes and/or Readiness Preparation Proposals. Across the 36 countries, drivers of deforestation and forest degradation could be grouped into categories of institutional policies, political–economic contexts and social settings. The result of our content analysis indicates that there is a lack of discussion of the dynamic character of ecosystems and of the potential influence of natural disturbances on the identified drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. We argue that REDD+ initiatives must take into account knowledge of natural disturbance regimes (including the size, frequency and severity of key disturbances) in their framing of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in order to better understand the ecological stage on which these projects will be implemented after the piloting phase. This paper proposes four approaches to integrate understanding of natural disturbances with the socio-political and economic drivers of deforestation and forest degradation within REDD+ participating countries.

Agriculture and Deforestation: Is REDD+ Rooted In Evidence?

This article deals with the links between agricultural technologies and tropical deforestation in order to determine whether and how the REDD+ mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) might address agriculture expansion on forests. We study in the first place the Borlaug/land sparing hypothesis, according to which an increase in agricultural productivity per hectare leads to reduced cultivated areas, or at least is a prerequisite for such an outcome, but we find serious limitations when translated in economic terms. Further confrontation with empirical results from case-studies confirms the lack of robustness of the land sparing hypothesis: various kinds of changes in agricultural technologies in various contexts generate various types of impacts on forest cover. Increasing productivity per hectare can be done in many ways and has uncertain consequences on forest cover. Public support policies need to be funded in priority to guarantee that agricultural land reforms work in favour of reducing deforestation. Subsequently, we study the strategies that were elaborated by five countries in the framework of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, which is a prominent supporter of REDD+-readiness. Their analysis shows the poor reflection in these national strategies of the academic debate/research results on the impact of agricultural technologies on deforestation. This gap between science and policy making deserves recognition for improvement, if one wishes most effective use of this new and unprecedented source of finance for reversing the tropical deforestation. But the extremely complex relations between agricultural technologies and deforestation also plead for the promotion and financing of public support policies as one promising way to secure positive outcomes of agricultural technologies.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestaton and Forest Degradation (REDD+) – What is Behind the Idea and What is the Role of UN-REDD and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)?

Background and purpose: Although greenhouse gases related with the Land Use, Land Use Changes and the Forestry (LULUCF) represent approximately 15-20% of all greenhouse gases emissions to the atmosphere, afforestation/reforestation projects of Kyoto protocol related Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) represents only 0.75% of all CDM projects. All these facts prompted re-negotiation of climate change policy to include Reducing Emissions of Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) in compliance carbon trading in the Post-Kyoto protocol. To help implementing the REDD in developing countries, two main multilateral readiness programs were established, the UN one (UN-REDD+), and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), which was created by the World Bank. This paper describes the main idea behind REDD+ mechanism, the roles of UN-REDD and FCPF in creating REDD+ national policies and what are the challenges and main obstacles in successful implementation of REDD+.