REDD+: What should come next?

While REDD+ has been a remarkable success as an idea and as a flagship of international climate negotiations, its implementation has been slower and the results smaller than most expected when the initiative was launched in 2005. The Warsaw Framework (2013) established the structure for an international REDD+ mechanism, but the corresponding funding to make it operational has not been forthcoming. National REDD+ policies are shaping up in major forest countries, but face continuous political struggles with vested interests for continued forest exploitation and/or legitimate development objectives. So far, REDD+ efforts have not been able to change - at any scale - the basic deforestation logic and to make living trees worth more than dead trees. The way forward, this chapter argues, is for REDD+ countries to assume a stronger role and ownership in the implementation of REDD+, and to incorporate it in their INDCs and in their domestic emission targets. Corporate efforts - through the greening of supply chains - can play a major role, pushed by consumer pressure and environmental watchdogs, and complemented by domestic policy reforms. International agreements should nudge countries towards making stronger commitments, and provide funding for capacity building and partial incentives for forest conservation through result-based mechanisms.

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