Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation - Key Questions

Key Questions

A number of questions are being discussed and will inform the decisions on REDD at the upcoming 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They include:

The structure of funding mechanisms
Tying REDD into a broader system of carbon trading could allow developed countries or private firms to offset their own emissions and meet emissions reductions targets. However, some developing countries, such as Brazil and China, maintain that developed countries must commit to real emissions reductions, independent of any offset mechanism.

Setting reference levels to measure the reduction in emissions
Will it be based on current emissions levels or historical deforestation rates, a business-as-usual scenario? Will countries with different forest covers and historic deforestation rates hold different interests in the way the reference levels are constructed? Involving countries with high forest covers and low historic deforestation rates will be necessary to reduce perverse incentives.

Distribution of benefits
How can the benefits from REDD be distributed to forest communities in a just, equitable way that minimizes capture of the benefits by national governments or local elites?

• Participation of Indigenous peoples and Forest-Dependent Communities in the design, implementation and monitoring of REDD activities, and respect for their human rights

• Strategies to prevent "carbon leakage", caused by the displacement of deforestation to other areas

• Achieving multiple benefits, for example the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services (such as watersheds), and social benefits (for example income and improved forest governance).