US$8.7 million approved for UN-REDD’s Global Activities
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In a recent intersessional decision on 25 June, the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board approved the budget for an additional US$8.7 million to fund global activities aimed at supporting national REDD+ readiness efforts.
The additional funds are part of Norway’s US$30 million funding pledge for 2010, announced at the UN-REDD Programme’s fourth Policy Board meeting in March. The UN-REDD Programme’s support to global activities (January 2009-July 2011) now totals US$22 million. This is in addition to US$42.6 million allocated to UN-REDD’s National Programmes.
New funds will enable the Programme to continue work on measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), engagement of stakeholders, and realizing the multiple benefits forest can provide. Further, the funds will help to enable:
- Increased transparency and effectiveness in national REDD+ governance
The Programme will develop understanding and sharing of experience on governance monitoring, decentralization, and convening dialogue and partnerships with REDD+ governance actors. A key area is to develop and apply land tenure tools and advice for REDD+ implementation.
- Development of equitable benefit sharing systems
The UN-REDD Programme will support integrating the development of equitable benefit sharing systems in national programmes, and foster transparency and accountability in financing flows. Efforts will be put on women's empowerment and gender equality, and to develop safeguards and standards for social impacts of REDD+.
- Support to low carbon sector transformation
The UN-REDD Programme will analyze environmental, social and economic drivers of high-carbon forest uses and compile best practices on alternative institutional and economic options, as well as on the contribution of sector transformation to meet green economy aspirations.
These and other on-going global activities support REDD+ readiness efforts at the country level and seek to benefit the REDD+ global community at large.
“The Policy Board’s recent approval will go a long way to developing and sharing knowledge, guidance and tools to help countries design and implement their national REDD+ strategies,” says Tiina Vahanen, Senior Officer of the UN-REDD’s Global Programme.
“Norway’s generous support has been vital to the UN-REDD Programme’s success in providing REDD+ readiness support to countries,” says Ms. Vahanen.
About the UN-REDD Programme:
The UN-REDD Programme is the United Nations Collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in developing countries. The Programme was launched in September 2008 to assist developing countries prepare and implement national REDD+ strategies, and builds on the convening power and expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Programme currently supports REDD+ readiness activities in nine pilot countries and 13 partner countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
List of pilot and partner countries
About REDD:
REDD is a mechanism to create an incentive for developing countries to protect, better manage and wisely use their forest resources, contributing to the global fight against climate change. REDD strategies aim to make forests more valuable standing than they would be cut down, by creating a financial value for the carbon stored in trees. Once this carbon is assessed and quantified, the final phase of REDD involves developed countries paying developing countries carbon offsets for their standing forests. REDD is a cutting-edge forestry initiative that aims at tipping the economic balance in favour of sustainable management of forests so that their formidable economic, environmental and social goods and services benefit countries, communities, biodiversity and forest users while also contributing to important reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Contact:
Linda Rosengren
Natural Resource Officer
UN-REDD Programme Secretariat (Geneva)
Office: +41 22 917 8397
Mobile: +41 79 555 9751
linda.rosengren@un-redd.org
www.un-redd.org
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