Synthesis and conclusions

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the role of tropical forests in the international efforts to negotiate a new global climate treaty. Under the existing treaty, the Kyoto Protocol and its “flexible mechanisms” - particularly the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) - have succeeded in building a billion dollar market for emission reduction projects in developing countries. Since the decision to include efforts to reduce emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in the 2007 Bali Action Plan, considerable attention has focused on designing a REDD and REDD+ program for inclusion in the next global climate agreement. The positions taken by different countries on REDD are driven by their circumstances - from those with large areas of standing forest to those with few remaining forests, from those facing rapid rates of deforestation to those engaged in reforestation. The overarching issues to be decided in developing the framework of a REDD mechanism include: the scope of the forestry activities to be covered; the scale of accounting for forestry activities and the baseline for measuring reference emissions levels; the type of financing to be provided for REDD activities; how to address fundamental issues of capacity and governance; and the consideration of co-benefits. There is some convergence around the scope of a REDD mechanism, the need to ultimately undertake activities at a national scale, the likelihood that financing will be both fund and market based, and the potential to implement REDD in phases. However, many contentious issues remain, including how to set baselines and accounting rules for REDD/REDD+ and how to incorporate governance concerns.