In the general scope, unfortunately the COP15 in Copenhagen was a failure. The much needed compromise on obligatory reduction goals for the developed countries didn´t happen. Instead of this, a political agreement (The Copenhagen Accord) that establishes good intentions, and which involves only a small part of the countries in the world while continuing the normal path of negotiations within the Climate Convention was the final result. However, this isn´t sad news for anyone, since this topic has been extensively covered by the media and all specialized press

The focus of this article is the forestry sector, focusing principally on discussing the implementation (or non implementation) of mechanisms for “reductions of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)” in developing countries. The negotiations on this topic in Copenhagen were a little more advanced and have already presented a gradual evolution in the year 2009.

"Among the advances on REDD in Copenhagen, we can mention some consensus in the guidelines, which established the reference levels of emissions (the base lines), acknowledging the importance of indigenous people´s participation and monitoring systems"

In spite of the AWG-LCA* not being able to finish their negotiations, which would postpone yet another year mainly by defining how and where the necessary resources for REDD will go, the SBSTA**, group which deals with both technical questions and methodologies had advances and was able to approve a “draft decision.” Among these actions we can mention some consensus in the guidelines, which established the reference levels of emissions (the base lines), acknowledging the importance of indigenous people´s participation in REDD´s activities and monitoring systems, among others.

A correct definition which is rigorous in terms of principles and methodological criteria is extremely important, once there is direct involvement concerning the succes or failure of REDD´s mechanisms that will be adopted in the Climate Convention. A large quantity of visions and divergent interests are responsible for the slowdown in the negotiations, that have been dragging along slowly since 2005, when REDD was put at the stake in the COP11 in Montreal.

It`s possible to say that we`re on the right track for two main reasons: the first is that REDD is definitely assured to be present in the future agenda of the Climate Convention, perhaps due to the “Copenhagen Accord” or the AWG-LCA negotiations that will happen during 2010; the second, is that the results and agreements with SBSTA have been added to projects and demonstrative iniciatives already in progress. This gives us sufficient clarity and security to continue with REDD´s activities, whether for accords in global or multilateral programs, or projects and bilateral and national iniciatives.

Among the bilateral programs we can quote the ones already established and operating funds for Norway´s REDD (up to US$600M annually), from the World Band /FCPF (US$200M) and in the United Nations/UN-REDD[5] (US$ 100M); and the promise of a “Green Fund for the Climate” which will recieve the amount of US$ 3.5BN. This money was made in the post-COP15 by a group of six countries, composed by Australia, France, The United Kingdom, Norway, The U.S. and Japan. The majority of this resource (US$6 BN) will be used directly for the tropical countries´ governments for construction and “readiness” for their strategies of control and monitoring of deforestation without involving any transaction or compensastion for emissions reductions.

The bilateral iniciatives and projects from REDD, aimed at emission compensations in the so-called voluntary market, are creating space to highlight an expeditious development of iniciatives in diverse parts of the world. With confirmation of the inclusion of the REDD´s participation in future agreements in the Climate Convention, even containing various unknowns as far as the functional structure, diverse institutions will start to develope “demonstrative actions” through activities and pilot projects.

These activities, can be developed on a national or subnational scale, generally directed at the Voluntary Carbon Market and can serve as the first step for an integration in a possible future national scheme. National activities are those developed to cover an entire territory of a determined country, and under government control. Yet those developed on a subnational scale can be from a state or provincial municiples or even in the form of projects.

These subnational activities have an extremely important contribution, for they can be implemented with more agility and generate several lessons, in the best sense of “learning by doing.” These lessons are relevant not only for improving REDD´s structuring process, but also for replicating in other regions. Still, there is a fundamental role in the process of “readiness” as much in technical terms and methodologies, as in the construction of institutional capacities in countries that still don´t have a sufficient level of governance to implement REDD projects on a national scale.

A study done by the Conservation and Sustainable Development Institute of the Amazon (Idesam), in partnership with TNC Brazil in 2009, maped and analyzed seventeen REDD projects in process in six countries (the respective number of projects) in Latin America: Bolivia (1), Brazil (7), Equador (1), Guatemala (3), Paraguay (1) and Peru (4). Together, all of these projects add up to an area of 14.8 million hectares (3.5 times the size of Denmark), with potencial to reduce emissions of up to 521.2 million tons of CO2 until the year 2050[6].

"Subnational activities have an extremely important contribution, for they can be implemented with more agility and generate several lessons, in the best sense of “learning by doing.””

A striking characteristic of the projects and a potential advantage in relation to the national schemes is their capacity of accessing resources, especially when considering the participation of the private sector. Nowadays it´s quite rare (and difficult) to develope and implement a REDD project that doesn´t go through any validation or verification process of independent standards. These standards help to guarantee the transparency of the implementation of activities and the use of resources, besides guaranteeing that the project will bring not only climatic benefits, effectively reducing deforestation emissions, but also generating other socio-environmental benefits. Thus, the implementation of projects, actions and demonstrations constitute an important step on the path of constructing national systems.

For REDD´s implementation on a national scale, many countries (mainly African) encounter difficulty by not having total governance over their territory nor trustworthy systems or transparancy for international resource administration for the reduction of deforestation. Many of these countries have a very recent democratic history or not a very “reliable” reputation in terms of corruption, which ends up keeping away possible investors interested in REDD.

Although there is a great potential to generate a reduction in emissions for the regions where projects are implemented, it´s necessary to be cautious and not create expectations that the REDD projects will resolve all of the problems caused by deforestation. It is essential to guarantee that the developed projects are robust, transparent and ensure the complete involvement and acknowledgement of the local stakeholders, generating an improvement of life for the communities within or at the edge of the area in the project and assuring that the activities implemented don´t cause other environmental impacts. It´s essential to recognize the fact that, in many cases, the traditional communities and indigenous people are directly responsible for several areas that are still preserved. It´s also essential to not only recognize how, but to also recompensate these communities for their efforts of conservation.

For the execution of projects and activities on a subnational scale it´s fundamental to ensure that reception and application of resources are transparent and are always following the guidelines drawn up in the initial project. In addition to financial transparency, it´s necessary to have a clear and precise registration system for the transactions of the generated credit. This avoids not only double accounting of the same credit, but it can also serve as an initial step for the establishment of a national system that hamonizes both federal actions as well as actions on the local scale, insuring a contribution, in terms of emission reductions, from each of the developed activitiesin the country.

In addition to generating lessons that can be replicated in other cases, these activities aren´t conflicting with a possible transition to a national system. On the contrary, they can be the first move in this direction because they will ripen little by little, constructing the necessary base for an effective implementation of a REDD action on a larger scale.

Upon the execution of these projects, it´s possible to have a clear idea of the difficulties that are up ahead and to be able to take proportional wins when applicated on larger scales. It´s possible to move along improving the process and constructing technical and institutional capacities that will be fundamental in potential national implementations. It´s necessary to go from discussion to action because the path is long and we have to take the first step.


Mariano Colini Cenamo is Executive Secretary and Coordinator of Climate Change Program of the  Instituto de Conservação e Desenvolvimento Sustentável do Amazonas (Idesam). E-mail mariano@idesam.org.br



Mariana Nogueira Pavan is researcher of the Climate Change Program of the Instituto de Conservação e Desenvolvimento Sustentável do Amazonas (Idesam). E-mail mn.pavan@idesam.org.br