The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that approximately 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation and resulting land use change.  Some 13 million hectares of forest--an area the size of England--are destroyed annually.  This deforestation and forest degradation are driven by the market failure that results in the economic undervaluation of standing forests.  Therefore, efforts towards reducting emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) have become crucial.

CfRN has realized that REDD+ can and must be implemented in a manner that respects the rights and livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities and provided numerous other co-benefits such as the preservation of biodiversity, ensuring food security, protecting supplies of potable water and maintaining soil quality.  However, to realize these benefits, immediate action is needed.  REDD+ is a vanishing opportunity and with every passing month, 1 million hectares of tropical forests are lost, resulting in the release of more GHG than the monthly emissions of the entire European Union.  And while scaling up of REDD+ will take time, it is achievable.

Developing a national REDD+ strategy is the first step in implementing an effective REDD+ programme.  The Coalition supports the premise that a robust REDD+ strategy needs to have strong ownership at the highest levels of government and will need to be developed through a comprehensive, transparent and inclusive multi-stakeholder consultation process.  To this end, the strategy must be fact based and focused on the opportunities that promise a country the highest return.  CfRN is committed to ensuring that all REDD+ national plans align with the broader development objectives of the country and ensure that indigenous peoples and local communities stand to benefit from it.

CfRN has identified critical steps in creating a fact based strategic document.  The following elements will serve as the foundation of a broader consultation process for a national REDD+ strategy:

• Identify the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and where relevant, peat-related emissions, and establish a national business-as-usual (BAU) reference scenario from which emissions reductions and sequestration can be measured

• Identify REDD+ abatement opportunities, assess their economic costs and benefits, prioritize them through an appropriate framework and develop a realistic and feasible abatement pathway

• Develop an initial draft of the strategy to deal with the drivers of deforestation and degradation and capture sequestration opportunities, including the detailing of a REDD+ implementation framework that becomes the basis for a process of stakeholder consultation and implementation planning