$12 billion needed for UN REDD+ project

Investment of around US$12 billion is required fromthe internatioonal community to stimulate demand for the global REDD+ initiative under the United Nations, according to a new report by the Interim Forest Finance Project.

The report, launched by UNEP Finance Initiative, Global Canopy Programme (GCP), the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) and Fauna & Flora International (FFI) on Friday, has called on governments, donor agencies and financial institutions to scale up the finance available to stimulate demand for emission reductions and meet the supply generated by REDD+ projects which are already helping reduce deforestation.

REDD+ is a mechanism that offers financial incentives to reduce carbon emissions through protecting forests and sustainable management of forest areas.

Estimates suggest that 15 to 20 per cent of global carbon emissions are a result of deforestation.

Nick Oakes, Finance Programme Manager of Global Canopy Programme said in a statement, “Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation between 2015 and 2020 should be a strategic priority for governments, given that emissions from this sector, according to the recent IPCC report, are the second largest.”

If the REDD+ programme has to significantly contribute in bringing down the annual deforestation levels to 50 per cent by 2020, it would need to produce a demand that would take up as much as 9,900 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) generated from all forests and land-use activities.

At present, the total potential demand for REDD+ emission reductions from 2015 to 2020 stands at only around 253 MtCO2, the report said.