Research Center for Climate Change Universitas Indonesia (RCCC UI), together with CIFOR and its partners are implementing a Global Comparative Study on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (GCS REDD+). Through this project, we foster the co-creation of knowledge and learning exchange at all levels, ensuring policymakers and practitioners have access to – and use – the information, analyses, and tools needed to design and implement effective, efficient, and equitable REDD+ policies and actions. The Science and policy dialogue series is one of the key components introduced in GCS-REDD+ Phase 4 and aims to tailor research to country-level needs, policies, and targets pertaining to forest-based climate mitigation.

Science and Policy Dialogue is a series of meetings that bring together experts and policymakers to discuss about research and development surrounding forest and climate governance. The first dialogue on 16 December 2021 under the theme “From COP26 to G20: How research can support aligning forest, finance and development planning in Indonesia” set the tone for the whole series about the importance of research in supporting policymaking. The second dialogue, “Improving REDD+ information to advance REDD+ architecture”, was conducted on 25 April 2022 – one of the sessions focused on the role of REDD+ projects in Indonesia towards the Paris Agreement target, which brought about recent issues pertaining to the state of REDD+ financial and the importance of equitable benefit sharing. The third dialogue on 4 August 2022 discussed, “How are benefits from REDD+ finance shared?” and found that benefit sharing from REDD+ projects and programs (government-led) took various forms, from monetary to diverse in-kind (non-monetary) distributions. Now, the latest iteration of Science and Policy Dialogue will focus on sharing lessons on deforestation archetypes and REDD+ impact evaluation research from GCS REDD+ countries, including Indonesia.