This paper aims to demonstrate and illustrate how integrating gender equality principles into REDD+ will result in improved sustainability of climate and development outcomes. The rationale for including gender considerations in REDD+ policy, planning and implementation is predicated on the human rights-based approach to development. Gender equality is a human right as set forth in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other international instruments. The business case for mainstreaming gender—in terms of strengthening REDD+ outcomes— is based on examining how mainstreaming gender into REDD+ may :

• increase efficiency (defined here as reducing transaction costs);
• increase efficacy (defined here as reducing greenhouse gas emissions); and
• increase sustainability (defined here as ensuring permanence and thereby reducing the risk of reversals for project investors, be they public or private).

The paper reviews a number of challenges associated with reducing degradation and its related emissions through national approaches to REDD+ under UNFCCC policy. It proposes that in many countries, it may in the short run be easier to deal with the kinds of degradation that result from locally driven community over-exploitation of forest for livelihoods, than from selective logging or fire control. Such degradation is low-level, but chronic, and is experienced over very large forest areas. Community forest management programmes tend to result not only in reduced degradation, but also in forest enhancement; moreover they are often popular, and do not require major political shifts. In principle these approaches therefore offer a quick start option for REDD+. Developing reference emissions levels for low-level locally driven degradation is difficult however given that stock losses and gains are too small to be identified and measured using remote sensing, and that in most countries there is little or no forest inventory data available. We therefore propose that forest management initiatives at the local level, such as those promoted by community forest management programmes, should monitor, and be credited for, only the net increase in carbon stock over the implementation period, as assessed by ground level surveys at the start and end of the period. This would also resolve the problem of nesting (ensuring that all credits are accounted for against the national reference emission level), since communities and others at the local level would be rewarded only for increased sequestration, while the national reference emission level would deal only with reductions in emissions from deforestation and degradation.

Green economy has generally focused on the energy sector, but interest in the role of forests in emissions reduction and in forest carbon markets is growing. This has led to the emergence of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, enhancement of carbon stock and sustainable management of forests in developing countries initiative (known collectively as REDD+) as a means through which individuals, projects and communities in developing countries can be financially rewarded for reducing emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and enhancement of carbon stock.

This report compiled by AIDESEP, FENAMAD, CARE (regional and national indigenous organisations) and FPP collates the experiences of indigenous peoples’ organisations with REDD+ policies and projects in Peru. The report analyses the policies and strategies of the Peruvian government, examines the roles of international agencies and scrutinises pilot REDD+ initiatives already underway in indigenous territories.

In Vietnam, forests have been under state stewardship for a long time. Degradation of forest resources under state management together with the high costs of forest protection has led to increased involvement of local people in forest management. Since the early 1990s, the Government of Vietnam (GOV) has been promoting the allocation of forest rights to local people as the foundation for development of community forest management (CFM). The initiative, known as Forest Land Allocation (FLA), has been undertaken in various parts of the country, with mixed results. This raises an important question: how can forestland allocation be improved so that community forestry can both support local livelihoods and provide environmental protection? 

With funding from the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests, a small initiative on “Property Reforms and Forest Rights in Vietnam” was undertaken. The initiative aims to identify key issues influencing the success or failure of community forestry in various parts of the country and to discuss implications for policies on forest management and rural development.

The document at hand is a product of a group of carefully selected researchers, policy experts, and practitioners seeking to share their experiences and viewpoints based on previous or on-going work. It is by no means a comprehensive discussion of all the issues related to community forest management in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the issues brought up by the authors in the document will shed light on some of the important aspects of community forest management in Vietnam and can serve as the starting point for further development of community forest management in the new context in Vietnam.

Report on rewarding local communities for Participatory Forest Management (PFM) in Tanzania's REDD+ experiences.

Publication recognizing RRI's five years of awareness-raising and commitment-building for frest tenure, governments and market reform, plus global challenges and opportunities.

Indonesia's initial regulations on reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation plus (REDD+) were some of the earliest national regulations to be proposed by a REDD+ country and they resembled the 'nested' proposal (Pedroni et al., 2007). Under this approach, entity level carbon trading from emissions reductions in REDD+ projects can be carried out by the private sector, NGOs or communities, but under national regulations. While there is still intense debate in Indonesia as to how exactly REDD+ revenues might be shared between national and local levels, the different policy proposals give some insight into the options. Initial plans for the sharing of financial benefits from REDD+ between national and local levels therefore proposed that they be governed (at least on paper) by these different criteria. The revenue rules under the REDD regulations were first proposed in forestry department decrees 30, 36 and 68 although were quickly subject to intense political debate and a review that aimed at removing rules that overlap or clash. The draft rules on benefit sharing outline 11 different options depending on the type of licence held and the type of forest. The revenue split between government, communities and the project developer would vary between 10 percent - 50 percent for government, 20 percent - 70 percent for communities and 20 percent - 60 percent for project developers. These revenues would accrue from the sale of REDD+ credits. The national government plays

Reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation plus (REDD+) has been developing in Tanzania since 2008 and the government is working on the development of a national strategy and action plan, as well as institutions that will enable it to implement a national REDD+ scheme. A number of studies are currently underway to help inform the detail of a future REDD strategy. Ten pilot projects are in development (REDD strategy 2010). All of these processes are overseen by a National Climate Change Steering Committee, which includes a REDD+ Working Group. The Forestry and Beekeeping Division will play a major role in REDD+ implementation. The framework document (Government of Tanzania, 2009) which has served as an initial basis for REDD+ strategy development, and various scoping studies (Katoomba, 2009) outline criteria for selecting appropriate REDD+ sites and activities. One of the policy approaches that is emphasized in draft policy strategies is the use of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) applied through Joint Forest Management (JFM) and Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) as one of the main ways to address deforestation and degradation drivers through REDD+ in Tanzania. Although it is not completely clear how this would be managed in practice, the implication is that REDD+ funding will be used to speed up the rate of expansion of land area under PFM (currently only 12.8 percent of the country's forests are under PFM) and as a potentially new finance stream within