Global REDD+ registry proposed

A group of climate policy researchers has proposed an international registry be set up to coordinate the disparate efforts toward a global REDD+ mechanism. The Technical Working Group on the Institutional Architecture for Climate Finance says such a body is needed to harmonise the wide range of funding initiatives dedicated to REDD+ readiness efforts, implementation and credits.

REDD+ is the name given to efforts to establish a global scheme to reduce greenhouse emissions by preventing deforestation and degradation, and enhancing forest-based carbon stocks. REDD+ was the one of the areas of climate negotiation that saw the most progress at the Copenhagen climate conference. Hopes are high that a detailed agreement might be possible by this year’s conference in Cancun in December. A fast-track process to this end has been initiated by France and Norway following Copenhagen.

In a paper released this month, A Registry Approach For REDD+, the policy group does not mix its words in arguing that “the sheer confusion and inefficiencies currently underlying that disjointed landscape of publicly-funded mechanisms for REDD+ demand immediate rationalization and reorganization”.

The various initiatives includes the

• UN-REDD scheme
• World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)
• the Forest Investment Program (FIP) and the
• Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Sustainable Forest Management programme.

There are also bilateral and regional programmes including

• the Amazon Fund
• the Australian International Forest Carbon Initiative
• the Congo Basin Forest Fund, and the
• Norwegian International Climate & Forest Initiative.

Germany and the US are providing yet more funding through their general development aid.

Overarching these initiatives is more than $5 billion promised by a group of developed nations during and since Copenhagen to fast track REDD+, with little clarity yet as to how the money fits with the various initiatives.

The registry proposal calls for a centralised agency according to UN principles to bring efficiency, accountability and transparency to the development of REDD+. It would provide a central record of each developing nation’s national REDD strategy, match them developed country funding, coordinate private sector and other suppliers’ involvement and contribute to the verification of REDD activities and subsequent carbon crediting of funding nations.