Increased economic development while minimizing carbon emissions from global deforestation and forest degradation

The purpose of the project was to contribute to financial sustainability for REDD+ finance in developing nations, inform and advance REDD+ policy development and build strong political constituencies in support of REDD+

Why did Norway decide to support this project?

Promoting international consensus around REDD+ is a core tool in the global effort to prevent dangerous levels of CO2 emissions, and thereby climate change. TNC has role to play in building a consensus for REDD+ and ramping up funding as a result of the organization’s integrated involvement in REDD+ from field implementation, to science to global policy.

TNC has built up relationships with key policy leaders in this area, from political leaders in forest nations, to US State and Federal officials, to multilateral financial institutions. Norway decided to support TNC’s efforts to promote political and financial support for REDD+ in both forest countries, as well as developed countries.

Results

The planned outcomes for the project were:

1. Adequate and Sustainable Finance for REDD+,
2. Enhanced Climate Finance Readiness of Key REDD+ Countries
3. Targeted analysis and Advice on REDD+
4. Critical Political Constituencies in Support of REDD+ Are Established  

TNC has presented information on several achievements, and below follows Norad’s assessment of these:

1. Financing sources for REDD+ have increased since the start of this grant and donor contributions have remained more steady. While not entirely attributable to TNC, TNC helped secure and maintain appropriations for REDD+ in a period marked with severe budget constraints, for example U.S State Department’s Sustainable Landscapes funding, was USD 226 million in 2013 and USD 219,000 in 2015. The type of funding available is still primarily from the public sector, with private sector REDD+ still operating in a small, voluntary market, but one of the results from the project is a more diverse set of donors and activities. Whereas REDD+ finance in 2013 consisted largely of Norwegian bilateral agreements with selected countries, the picture in 2016 is far more dynamic and the Paris Agreement, gave signals that the global community aims to provide funding to support REDD+.
2. Policy briefs and in-country workshops have been conducted in several countries. The multi-country dialogue series helped to address how REDD+ frameworks fit within the international climate architecture, as well as the solidify understanding of REDD+ within a variety of developing country contexts. The focus countries for this effort were Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia and Peru and through collaboration with World Bank/UNDP, country participation was expanded to include Costa Rica, Colombia, DRC, Ethiopia and Vietnam. Going forward, the governments engaged through this series can better incorporate REDD+ activities within and across the FCPF, UNFCCC and country specific NDCs.
3. Throughout 2013, TNC engaged in consultations to inform the development of a paper of the future of REDD+ financing. These consultations contributed to the sharing of knowledge on the future opportunities to integrate results-based payments for REDD+ with sustainable supply chain incentives. An analytical paper was also produced after the Paris Agreement, which included the future of REDD+ in a world where REDD+ is cemented in the Paris Agreement. It is too early to measure the results of this initiative. One primary advocacy goal is however, improving both REDD+ dialogue and the confidence of public and private actors in funding REDD+.
4. One of the most significant changes is the adoption of the new UNFCCC COP decisions on the Warsaw Framework for Redd+ in 2013 and the Paris COP21, which creates the framework to ensure that transparency, will create confidence in the REDD+ outcomes.

Based on the final report, Norad concludes that the project is relevant for the desired impact and has contributed to increase the financial sustainability of REDD+ and an agreed-upon policy framework for REDD+.

Lessons learned

One of the lessons learnt is the importance of civil society’s contribution to reach the global climate agreement in Paris, which highlights many lessons for the policy landscape in post-Paris work. Strengthening civil society’s voice and working in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders is an important in order to ensure a successful implementation of the Paris Agreement