Challenges

Forests and woodlands are important storehouses of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), apart from being home for most of the biodiversity on the planet, forests and woodlands also soak up 30 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions from industry and fossil fuels. However, the world loses around 10 million hectares of forest every single year1. 

With the world aiming to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement cannot be met without halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation. In addition to being carbon sinks, forests, as the largest and most mature nature-based solution, are also key to addressing the interrelated biodiversity and health crises and support global efforts for economic recovery. 

Toward a Solution

Since its inception in 2008, the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) is the UN knowledge and advisory platform on forest solutions to the climate crisis. It promotes the protection of tropical forests as a guiding principle, with the informed and meaningful involvement of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples, local communities and women. The UN-REDD Programme aims to slow down deforestation, while establishing firm social and environmental safeguards and contributing to the sustainable development of countries with tropical forests.  

The programme makes sure not to harm local communities while trying to protect their forests, understanding that the communities living in and around the forests need it for several services and goods (such as water, medicines, shade, fruits and firewood). It places a lot of effort on sensitization of the communities so that they see the benefits for themselves in the long run when they all protect the forests now.  

The UN-REDD Programme enables low-income countries to share their knowledge with other such countries (peer-to-peer learning) and to scale up all this knowledge from local experiences to global lessons learned and best practices. 

Recognizing the importance of preserving forests in the fight against climate change, a comprehensive technical process known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) was developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It aims to halt greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.  

It builds on the convening capacity and technical 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) to support country- led efforts to implement REDD+.

With the support of Norway and other donors, its approaches ensure the environmental integrity of carbon emissions reductions while supporting non-carbon benefits – from safeguarding biodiversity to supporting local livelihoods and promoting the informed and meaningful involvement (FPIC) of all stakeholders, including of indigenous peoples and local communities.  

UN-REDD has been playing a transformative role in supporting 65 partner countries (70 percent of all tropical forests) across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to providing technical assistance to respond to country needs, it supports its partner countries by systematizing and aggregating the collection of know-how and converting and elevating local knowledge into lessons learned, best practices and success stories with global relevance, targeted to various audiences. In this way, the Programme also boosts the individual and collective impact of local knowledge and ensures South-South learning and the cross-fertilization of ideas and approaches across countries on how to scale up REDD+ implementation to accelerate climate action. 

Examples of these South-South and triangular cooperation knowledge-sharing events in 2021 included a virtual regional knowledge exchange where UN-REDD partner countries from Latin America shared lessons learned and good practices from the first pilot phase of Green Climate Fund (GCF) result based payments. In addition, UN-REDD organized a South-South exchange between Costa Rica, Ecuador and Suriname on indigenous rights in forest affairs.  

UN-REDD also compiled and assessed lessons and approaches for the digital participation of indigenous peoples in policy and institutional processes in Colombia, a pilot initiative to scope best practices for inclusive digital participation of indigenous peoples and rural communities. The knowledge gathered was further disseminated when contributing to the fifth session of the UNFCCC Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform, in collaboration with the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact.  

Moreover, a total of 10 knowledge briefs were produced summarizing the Programme’s knowledge and good practices on landscape approach and planning, forest tenure, indigenous peoples’ rights, financing and the private sector, forest monitoring systems and MRV, linking REDD+, the Paris Agreement, NDCs and the SDGs, REDD+ funding mechanisms, safeguards and gender. These expert briefs bring together 10+ years of UN-REDD expertise and best practice for supporting partner countries to realize forest solutions to the climate emergency by avoiding carbon emissions and fostering carbon sequestration. 

As of today, 25 UN-REDD partner countries?have adopted?REDD+ policies?at ministerial/cabinet level, resulting in substantial decreases in deforestation and forest carbon emissions. To be more precise, UN-REDD countries have submitted more than 700 million?tCO2?of forest emissions reductions to the UNFCCC, equal to taking more than?150 million cars?off the road for a year. Amongst these countries are Chile, Colombia, and Côte d’Ivoire. Also, more than?US$1 billion?has been channelled and mobilized since inception, including?US$350 million for REDD+ results-based payments. And 38 UN-REDD countries?have established transparent?forest monitoring systems.? 

The knowledge generation and dissemination on forest-positive agriculture and halting deforestation served countries to advance their sustainable development agendas, not only with respect to SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land), but also across the spectrum of the SDGs. 

Currently, UN-REDD is continuing to provide support to countries for accessing the funding provided by the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF), whilst ensuring that countries are integrating participatory and socially inclusive REDD+ processes to protect their forests and achieve their climate goals.