Legal Frameworks For Redd

Design Implementation at the National Level.

REDD+ (Reducing Emissions of greenhouse gases from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is an important tool under the UNFCCC for incentivizing developing countries to adopt and scale up climate mitigation actions in the forest sector and for capturing and channeling the financial resources to do so. This Handbook eloquently examines the methodological guidance and emerging governance arrangements for REDD+, analysing how and to what extent it is embedded in the international legal framework. Organized coherently into five parts, contributions from legal experts, international relations scholars, climate change negotiators and activists explore the history and design of REDD+ in the UN climate regime, as well as linkages between REDD+ and other international agreements. The book also considers global governance for REDD+, its financial dimensions including markets and investment and future developments and legal challenges. Detailed analysis from a range of angles illustrates the interplay of international norms and institutions and maps out a legal research agenda for identifying best practice solutions. Shedding light on one of the most vibrant and fast-moving fields in international law, this comprehensive Handbook is essential reading for scholars of international law and international relations, policy makers in the area of climate change, REDD+ and land sector experts and NGOs.

In The Protection of Indigenous Peoples and Reduction of Forest Carbon Emissions, Handa Abidin identifies approaches that can be used by indigenous peoples to protect their rights in the context of REDD-plus.

REDD+ must be transformational. REDD+ requires broad institutional and governance reforms, such as tenure, decentralisation, and corruption control. These reforms will enable departures from business as usual, and involve communities and forest users in making and implementing policies that a ect them. Policies must go beyond forestry. REDD+ strategies must include policies outside the forestry sector narrowly de ned, such as agriculture and energy, and better coordinate across sectors to deal with non-forest drivers of deforestation and degradation. Performance-based payments are key, yet limited. Payments based on performance directly incentivise and compensate forest owners and users. But schemes such as payments for environmental services (PES) depend on conditions, such as secure tenure, solid carbon data and transparent governance, that are often lacking and take time to change. This constraint reinforces the need for broad institutional and policy reforms. We must learn from the past. Many approaches to REDD+ now being considered are similar to previous e orts to conserve and better manage forests, often with limited success. Taking on board lessons learned from past experience will improve the prospects of REDD+ e ectiveness. National circumstances and uncertainty must be factored in. Di erent country contexts will create a variety of REDD+ models with di erent institutional and policy mixes. Uncertainties about the shape of the future global REDD+ system, national readiness and political consensus require  exibility and a phased approach to REDD+ implementation.

Legal frameworks to 'reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation' (REDD+) are analysed to focus on protections and benefits for indigenous peoples and forest communities.

REDD+ operates to reorganise social relations and to establish new forms of global authority over forests in the Global South.

Experiences from incentive-based forest management are examined for their effects on the livelihoods of local communities. In the second section, country case studies provide a snapshot of REDD developments to date and identify design features for REDD that would support benefits for forest communities.