Splitting the Difference; a Proposal for Benefit Sharing in REDD+

The objective of REDD+ in developing countries is to create incentives for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and for the increase of carbon stocks through the enhancement, conservation and sustainable management of forests in developing countries.

As part of the international negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change it has not been specified how these incentives will be channeled within countries; there are concerns about how the benefits will be shared among different stakeholders.

The authors propose that within national REDD+ accounting systems, credits for carbon enhancement and sequestration should be separated from avoided emissions from deforestation and forest degradation; the first group of credits can be attributed directly to landowners, communities and independent projects managing the forests while the second can be attributed to governments who are in charge of controlling illegal deforestation and degradation at the national level. This separation can help to create adequate incentives for the different stakeholders and overcome some of the problems associated with the design and implementation of national REDD+ programmes.

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