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by - During the 2010s governments and companies set unprecedented commitments to curb deforestation, but have fallen short. As the 2020s begin, here's what has changed for forests and what to look for in an uncertain new era.
REDD
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by Amy E. Duchelle, Frances Seymour, Maria Brockhaus, Arild Angelsen, Anne M. Larson, Moira Moeliono, Grace Y. Wong, Thu Thuy Pham and Christopher Martius - November 2019This issue brief is based on a 2018 working paper and summarizes the REDD+ experience over the past decade, taking stock of lessons learned from REDD+ implementation to inform future forest-based climate mitigation activities.
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by Frances Seymour - February 21, 2019Indonesia is one of few tropical nations actually decreasing deforestation. As a result, the country will earn its first payment as part of the UN's REDD+, a program where developed nations pay developing ones to reduce emissions by protecting forests.
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by Nancy Harris, Crystal Davis, Elizabeth Dow Goldman, Rachael Petersen and Samantha Gibbes - June 2018This working paper explains how much and why results differ between nationally reported deforestation estimates and the Global Forest Change (GFC) tree cover loss data of Hansen et al. (2013).
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by Frances Seymour, Amy E. Duchelle, Arild Angelsen, Anne M. Larson, Moira Moeliono, Grace Y. Wong, Thu Thuy Pham and Christopher Martius - June 2018Although the novel feature of REDD+— result-based payments at jurisdictional scales—remains largely untested, national and subnational REDD+ initiatives have made progress toward creating domestic conditions for addressing deforestation and forest degradation. This paper analyzes both national and subnational REDD+ initiatives to better understand lessons learned and how these lessons can support future forest-based climate change mitigation.
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by Frances Seymour and Jonah Busch - November 07, 2017Forests are more important to climate action than most people appreciate, argues Frances Seymour. They're a cheaper way to reduce emissions, and we already have the political frameworks in place to reduce deforestation.
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by Frances Seymour - June 02, 2017The Paris Agreement is the best instrument for addressing threats to development posed by climate change, such as forest fires, extreme weather and more. The U.S. withdrawal from the agreement is reckless.
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by Lauren Williams and Free De Koning - September 12, 2016The 2015 Paris Agreement has given a new impulse for the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programs.
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by Lauren Williams and Free De Koning - September 2016This paper presents practical ideas for REDD+ countries to consider as they implement activities that establish or strengthen accountability mechanisms. It presents a general framework for evaluating the institutions, standards, and oversight mechanisms that most countries are developing as part of their REDD+ processes.
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by Nancy Harris and Fred Stolle - January 05, 2016After more than 10 years of negotiations, REDD+, a program to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, is finally permanently enshrined in an international climate agreement.
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by Nancy Harris - December 01, 2015More than ever, governments, companies and civil society organizations are committing to ambitious goals to protect the world’s remaining forests and combat emissions from deforestation.
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WASHINGTON (January 12, 2015)— The World Resources Institute has appointed Dr. Nirarta “Koni” Samadhi, former deputy minister of Indonesia’s Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4), as the new country director of WRI Indonesia. Dr.
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by Jennifer Morgan, David Waskow, Yamide Dagnet, Heather McGray, Cynthia Elliott, Athena Ballesteros, James Anderson and Benoit Lefevre - December 14, 2014After two weeks of difficult negotiations and a nail-biting finale, delegates in Lima laid the groundwork for a successful international climate agreement in Paris next year.
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by Stephanie Ratté - August 29, 2014Brazil is a big investor in environmental stewardship, including several government-managed funds meant to protect the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. However, new analysis shows that in many cases, these funds aren’t being properly managed.
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World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Resources and Rights Initiative (RRI) unveil the report, Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change: How Strengthening Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change.
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by Stephanie Ratté and Lalanath de Silva - April 29, 2014As the struggle continues to protect forests around the world, REDD+ implementers should look to cultivate and strengthen institutions and mechanisms of accountability.
Though REDD+ includes an international accountability mechanism, case studies in Brazil and Indonesia, where civil society participated in and challenged land-use decisions, demonstrate that this will probably be insufficient for achieving REDD+ goals.
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by Lauren Williams - December 06, 2013The world’s forests and the people who depend on them face a host of challenges—including deforestation, rural poverty, and degradation of critical ecosystem services. These negative outcomes are often exacerbated by weak forest governance, including low levels of transparency and participation in forest decision-making and as well as poor oversight of forest activities. To tackle these issues, decision-makers need better information about the institutional, political, and social factors that drive governance failures.
An updated tool from WRI’s Governance of Forests Initiative aims to help policy-makers, civil society organizations, and other forest stakeholders evaluate governance of their countries’ forests. Assessing Forest Governance: The Governance of Forests Initiative Indicator Framework updates the original GFI indicators, which were published in 2009 and piloted by WRI’s civil society partners in Brazil, Cameroon, and Indonesia. Using the indicators, stakeholders can identify strengths and weaknesses in forest governance and develop reforms that benefit both people and planet.
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by Taryn Fransen, Thorvald Moe, Steffen Kallbekken, Alice Caravani and Smita Nakhooda - August 2013Developed country governments have repeatedly commit¬ted to provide new and additional finance to help developing countries transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient growth.
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by Lauren Williams - July 16, 2013In January 2013, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility approved USD $3.6M to fund Cameroon’s Readiness Preparation Proposal—a roadmap detailing how Cameroon will develop a national REDD+ strategy to help protect its forests. Cameroon, like many other REDD+ countries, now faces the challenge of delivering on commitments made in its Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP). Doing so will require significant efforts to address historical forest sector challenges, including weak governance. I recently participated in the National Dialogue on REDD+ Governance in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where these challenges were at the top of the agenda. The Dialogue, co-sponsored by Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme-Cameroon (BDCPC), Cameroon Ecology, the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection, and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), and WRI’s Governance of Forests Initiative (GFI), provided a forum for government and civil society members to talk frankly about strengthening governance as part of Cameroon’s REDD+ program.
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by Lauren Williams - May 13, 2013Since 2009, more than 30 countries have submitted proposals for REDD+ readiness grants to start addressing the social, economic, and institutional factors that contribute to forest loss. Many countries have made encouraging strides in defining their plans to become “ready” for REDD+.
Yet, in a new WRI analysis of 32 country proposals, we identify the need for stronger commitments and strategies to address land and forest tenure challenges. While most countries identify secure land tenure as critical to successful REDD+ programs, relatively few outline specific objectives or next steps to address weaknesses in land laws or their implementation. Lack of clear strategies to address land tenure challenges could significantly hinder efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
The new working paper from WRI’s Governance of Forests Initiative reviews 32 readiness proposals submitted to two grant programs supporting REDD+ readiness: the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the UN-REDD Programme. We reviewed these documents to assess how REDD+ countries plan to address eight core issues (see Box 1 below). The analysis sheds light on how REDD+ issues are understood and prioritized, as well as where more technical and financial support is needed.