REDD is a rather broad term, currently.  REDD is a general concept that embodies the reduction (R) in carbon emissions (E) by slowing down rates of deforestation (D) and forest degradation (D).  REDD is also an acronym used by the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) for an emerging climate change mitigation strategy for “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries”.  We are focused on supporting the UNFCCC REDD concept, which was first proposed as an agenda item at COP11 in 2005 by the governments of Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea and was one of the central discussion points at COP13 in Bali in December 2007 (Bali Road Map and Bali Action Plan) and more recently at COP14 in Poznan, Poland this past December.  It was recognized that the mechanisms of the Kyoto protocol for mitigating climate change did not include deforestation – particularly deforestation and degradation of forest cover in the tropics – as a major component of climate change forcing.  It is estimated that fluxes of carbon dioxide from deforestation and forest degradation in Brazil and Indonesia will offset nearly all of the Kyoto national commitments made in the first period.  Without an effort to address deforestation and forest degradation, gains made by industrial nations will fall short of what is needed to begin stabilizing concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) building up in the atmosphere.

There is also a difference between project based REDD activities and national REDD efforts.  While there are some examples of project level “avoided deforestation” projects, the UNFCCC recognized demonstration activities only include: (1) the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), to “assist developing countries [through capacity-building] in their efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation by providing value to standing forests”, (2) the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership, an Indonesian-Australian joint activity in peatland forests in Central Kalimantan, and (3) the UN-REDD Programme, a collaborative effort from the FAO, UNDP and UNEP, whose “immediate goal is to assess whether carefully structured payment structures and capacity support can create the incentives to ensure actual, lasting, achievable, reliable and measurable emission reductions while maintaining and improving the other ecosystem services forests provide”.  REDD ideas and activities are building momentum, particularly, in the area of capacity building.  Some important issues in REDD remain to be resolved.  However, a UNFCCC approved REDD is targeted for COP 15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 2009 to be include in a post-Kyoto 2012 commitment.  Capacity building efforts that include project level REDD activities are the current focus in order to get developing countries up to speed, ready to start REDD activities, for an approved UNFCCC REDD for the second commitment period.  How compensation will occur for implementing a UNFCCC approved REDD in developing countries is still an outstanding question.  There are some current examples of compensation for a few smaller “avoided deforestation” projects that are early attempt at demonstration REDD-like activities at a small-scale. (e.g. World Bank BioCarbon Fund project in Madagascar and Noel Kempff Climate Action Project in Bolivia) .

Under the UNFCCC REDD all developing (non-annex 1) countries would be eligible.  However, the concept is really targeted toward tropical and sub-tropical countries with large tracts of existing forest that currently have a high rates of deforestation and forest degradation (e.g. Brazil, Indonesia, etc.).  Non-annex 1 countries who have large tracts of land previously deforested (especially prior to December 31, 1989) are likely to be more focused on aforestation/reforestation. 

Current benefits to the early efforts supporting REDD capacity building include those countries who have successfully proposed (fourteen in the first R-PIN round) for the World Bank FCPF Readiness Mechanism through submission of an R-PIN (Readiness Project Information Notice) and the capacity building component promoted through this effort.

Below is a diagram to help clarify REDD in all its variations.