REDD+

REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, with the "+" denoting the additional activities of conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. It is a results-based mechanism negotiated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The concept emerged at COP11 in Montreal (2005), where Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, on behalf of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, formally proposed compensation for avoided deforestation. It was elaborated through the Bali Action Plan (COP13, 2007) and consolidated in the Warsaw Framework for REDD+ adopted at COP19 in 2013, which set out the rules for national strategies, reference emission levels, monitoring systems, and safeguards information. Article 5 of the Paris Agreement (2015) explicitly encourages Parties to implement and support REDD+.

To receive results-based payments, a participating country must generally:

• Develop a national REDD+ strategy or action plan.
• Establish a forest reference emission level (FREL) submitted to the UNFCCC for technical assessment.
• Operate a national forest monitoring system (NFMS) capable of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV).
• Provide a safeguards information system (SIS) addressing the seven Cancun safeguards, including respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Major financing channels include the Green Climate Fund's REDD+ results-based payments pilot, the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the UN-REDD Programme (a joint initiative of FAO, UNDP, and UNEP launched in 2008), and bilateral arrangements such as Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative.

Critics raise concerns about additionality, permanence (forests can later burn or be cleared), leakage (deforestation shifting elsewhere), measurement uncertainty, and the risk that carbon-market integration undermines indigenous land tenure. Proponents counter that REDD+ has channelled significant finance to tropical forest nations and embedded forest monitoring capacity that did not previously exist.