Two great milestones achieved, and much more

Dear UN-REDD,

December is a wonderful time for reflection.

Despite twelve months of hard work we notice that finance for forests is still insufficient to halt and reverse forest loss and degradation, crucial to keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. What is needed is a strong forest carbon price signal, high integrity, equity and increased investments in upfront finance to enable forested, developing countries to conserve, restore and sustainably manage their forests.

But we don’t give up. In this newsletter you’ll find an info-brief on carbon rights in jurisdictional REDD+ that reiterates that since there is no one internationally adopted definition of carbon rights or ERs title, REDD+ countries need to progress in legislating on the matter. Overall, more clarity surrounding emission reduction rights is still needed, as a more stable enabling environment affording legal protection to contracting parties would stimulate investments in REDD+, and protect vulnerable groups.

You will also find that UN-REDD has launched a community of practice on REDD+ Finance. To register to join, please visit: forestclimatesolutions.dgroups.io/g/finance

To end the year on a positive note, lets applaud the important milestone for nature that was reached at the recently concluded CBD COP where nations of the world agreed on a historic package of measures deemed critical to addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems. This package includes four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030, so that 30% of Earth’s lands, oceans, coastal areas and inland waters will be protected; $500 billion annual harmful government subsidies will be reduced and food waste will be cut in half by 2030.

And last but not least, under partner news you will read about the milestone that Guyana recently achieved. The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) has issued the world’s first TREES credits to Guyana. This also marks a milestone as the first time a country has been issued carbon credits specifically designed for the voluntary and compliance carbon markets for successfully preventing forest loss and degradation -- a process known as jurisdictional REDD+.

Now that the Festive Season is upon us, let us recharge our batteries for a busy year ahead, with hopefully more women at the foresfront of the decision making process and more meaningful engagement with local communities. More equity and access to markets will help to achieve more milestones.

Happy holidays!

PERSPECTIVES

Harnessing Carbon Markets: a conversation with African Women Leaders

Huddled in the dedicated interaction space at the UNDP Pavilion at COP 27, our team participated in an event to discuss harnessing carbon markets with other African women leaders. The conversation unfolded alongside other important dialogues in nearby pavilions, with Indigenous peoples and civil society groups, crisscrossing the zones, making known their discontent with respect to inequity and the frustratingly slow pace of action to get to 1.5 C.

STORIES

How open science and open data support forest climate action

Forests and land use are critical components of NDCs, as signaled by the Glasgow Declaration on Forests and Land Use, under which countries have pledged to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030. Thus, transparent monitoring and reporting of these actions will require improved forest and emissions removal data, improved access to appropriate technical solutions, strengthened institutional arrangements and ensured sustainable reporting to track progress.

Comparing access criteria and compensation: Results-Based Payments for REDD+ in Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s pioneering efforts to reduce deforestation prevented the release of 200 million tons (Mt) of CO₂ into the atmosphere between 1997 and 2019. During this period, the country’s forestry sector went from an emissions source of 22.6 Mt of CO2 to a carbon sink of -4.4 Mt of CO_2..

Ecuador’s new deforestation-free certification scheme turns the coffee and cocoa trade into an ally for forests and climate

Ecuador launched its national certification scheme for deforestation-free coffee and cocoa production at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt in November. The certification scheme creates a bridge between Ecuador’s foreign commodity trade and its national climate action.

How REDD+ benefit distribution delivers rapidly at scale

It is well known that vastly scaled up finance is needed to accelerate climate action and realize the full emissions reduction potential of forests. According to the recent Forest Declaration Assessment report, up to 200 times the current level of finance is needed to halt or reverse deforestation by 2030.

All roads lead to Rome: finding pathways through the complexity of REDD+ finance

On November 28 and 29, some 25 country representatives from Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific gathered in Rome and virtually with UN-REDD experts and invited guests for a REDD+ dialogue on strategic finance pathways for forest solutions.This dialogue aimed to help REDD+ countries map the increasingly complex landscape of options to finance REDD+, update their financing strategies to better implement and scale up forest-based climate action in support of their NDCs.

REDD+ Safeguards Week in Paraguay: an innovative, high-impact experience

English

Semana de las Salvaguardas de REDD+ en Paraguay: una experiencia innovadora y de gran impacto

Spanish

Gelam timber: a sustainable alternative to meet increased timber demand

International sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have curbed timber supplies from Russia and Belarus. According to industry figures, Russia and Belarus account for nearly 25 percent of the worldwide timber trade.

Could emerging entrepreneurship save our forests?

Forest conservation is in itself one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time and yet one of the most threatened by illegal business practices and corrupt activities.

Do people care about forest crime?

The 2022 Knowledge, Attitude, Practices Survey on Forest Crime shows that only half of the respondents care enough to act against illegal logging and illegal forest trade.

From forest to furniture: the quest to save Lower Mekong’s last standing rosewood trees

China’s fascination with rosewood furniture dates back thousands of years. With its red color attributed to luck, rosewood furniture is considered a prized cultural investment handed down over generations. But after wiping out its rosewood supply during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the country is now turning to the last standing forests in Lower Mekong countries for their rosewood supply. Can we save rosewood from extinction in the Lower Mekong, while also preserving Chinese cultural legacy?

RRead more

How decentralization can support REDD+ implementation

In October, 2022, the UN-REDD programme’s UNEP team went on a field mission for several days in the Lôh-Djiboua region of Côte d’Ivoire. The main objective of this mission was to assess the feasibility of implementing REDD+ at a jurisdictional level in this region.

The value of assessing the effectiveness of REDD+

Assessing the efficacy of REDD+ measures is critical to ensuring REDD+ efforts lead to the maximum positive climate impact while also enabling improvements. However, establishing links between policy or technical measures and impacts on deforestation has proven difficult, and as a result, is often neglected or reduced to estimations of the assumed impact in terms of carbon emissions reductions only.