REDD-plus Finance
-----------------
Seven major bilateral and multilateral funding initiatives have recently been created to support the new concept of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. This has been proposed as a major international mitigation strategy, seen by many to also hold considerable promise for forest conservation in developing countries. The total financing needed for REDD-plus is highly sensitive to the agreed level of payments to developing forest countries per tonne of reduced or avoided emissions, yet this has yet to be determined at international, national or local scales. Both public and private sector finance are seen to play potentially complementary roles in delivering REDD finance. Public sources are expected to play the dominant role in the initial stages of preparation for REDD-plus. However, in the implementation phase a combination of public and private sources will likely be required. Concerns over the scope of REDD-plus financing, benefit sharing, effective stakeholder participation and the need for safeguards hamper a quick advance of this proposed strategy. Some progress was made in Copenhagen last year, but a more comprehensive and decisive agreement is required at Cancun.
---------------
