" ... the reference guide introduces the basic guidance on the most relevant aspects of REDD+ projects provided by 3 well-established standards deemed to be the most representative of their kind: the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) ... the Plan Vivo System ... and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards (CCB)

Sebagai sebuah gagasan, REDD+ adalah cerita sukses: sebuah pendekatan baru yang membangkitkan harapan bagi penggalangan dana berbasiskan hasil untuk menindaklanjuti kebutuhan mendesak dalam mitigasi perubahan iklim. Gagasan ini cukup luas untuk menjadi sebuah tajuk pohon, untuk memayungi sejumlah besar pelaku di bawahnya untuk menumbuhkan pohon mereka sendiri. REDD+ menghadapi berbagai tantangan besar: Sejumlah kepentingan politik dan ekonomi yang kuat mendukung deforestasi dan degradasi yang berlanjut. Karena itu, implementasinya harus dikoordinasikan antara berbagai tingkat pemerintahan dan lembaga; manfaatnya harus disalurkan dengan menyeimbangkan keefektifan dan kesetaraan; ketidakpastian kepemilikan lahan (tenurial) dan jaringan pengamannya harus ditangani sungguh-sungguh; serta institusi yang transparan, pemantauan karbon yang dapat diandalkan dan tingkat acuan yang realistis, semuanya dibutuhkan untuk mendukung berbagai sistem berbasiskan hasil. REDD+ membutuhkan – dan dapat menjadi katalisator – perubahan transformatif: Insentif ekonomi yang baru, informasi dan wacana yang baru, berbagai pelaku dan koalisi kebijakan yang baru berpotensi untuk menggeser kebijakan domestik agar menjauh dari jalur bisnis seperti biasa. Proyek-proyek REDD+ bersifat gabungan di kawasan-kawasan yang tingkat deforestasinya tinggi: Para pengusul proyek mengusahakan strategi yang menggabungkan penegakan peraturan dan mendukung mata pencaharian alternatif (ICDP) dengan sejumlah insentif yang berbasiskan hasil (PES). Proyek-proyek cenderung berlokasi di kawasan-kawasan yang tingkat deforestasinya tinggi dan nilai karbonnya besar, sehingga menghasilkan nilai tambahan yang tinggi jika mereka berhasil. Ada pilihan kebijakan ‘tanpa penyesalan’: Meskipun ada ketidakpastian tentang masa depan REDD+, para pemangku kepentingan perlu membangun dukungan dan koalisi politik untuk melakukan perubahan, melakukan investasi dalam sistem informasi yang memadai, serta melaksanakan kebijakan yang dapat mengurangi deforestasi dan degradasi hutan, yang semuanya tetap diinginkan terlepas dari tujuan-tujuan untuk mengatasi persoalan iklim.

Ecosystem services and goods are the multiple benefits people obtain from ecosystems. The benefits provided by forests include carbon sequestration, prevention of erosion, flood control, and water purification as well as aesthetic beauty. Although humans are fundamentally dependent on these services, they also pose threat to the services through their activities such as deforestation and water pollution.

This paper explores opportunities for implementing activities for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in areas with high poverty rates, rapid population growth and complex social dynamics. We focus on the potential role of localized Forest Management Units (or KPH) as an institutional partner, using the West Rinjani Protected Forest Management Unit (KPHL RB) on the island of Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat province, Indonesia as a case study. We relied on five essential elements for our analysis: (1) identification of land use changes, (2) estimation of average carbon stocks in forests and shrubland, (3) socioeconomic surveys to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, (4) estimation of future reference emission levels, and (5) developing alternatives to reduce the rates of deforestation and forest degradation.

Reviewing the conditions in which the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism is being established in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is part of Component 1 of the Global Comparative Study on REDD+ (GCS-REDD) being conducted by the Center for International Forestry Research. The overall aim of this global study is to provide decision-makers, practitioners, donors and the scientific community with reliable information on the dynamics of national actions related to the REDD+ mechanism. Discussions on REDD originally seemed to focus on the construction of a global structure and the establishment of a multilateral instrument to replace the Kyoto Protocol. But at the 14th Conference of Parties (CoP 14), held in Poznan in 2008, discussions on the reliability of REDD+ focused more on the dynamics of national- and local-level actions and brought out the need to better understand, analyze and explain the national institutional context of REDD+ development. Subsequently, this review used the extractive approaches. The first inputs were reports, articles, books and documents on the DRC that were directly related to forest management, socioeconomic and political institutions, etc., whether published or not. Because of the diversity of sources, the quantitative data sometimes seem contradictory and conflictual. In the next step, semi-structured interviews were held with experts working in the forestry sector and data were obtained from the participants’ observations. Since this analysis covers the period between May 2011 and June 2012 actions in the field and the institutions after those dates were not included.

A critical assessment of whether transparency is a broadly transformative force in global environmental governance or plays a more limited role. Transparency—openness, secured through greater availability of information—is increasingly seen as part of the solution to a complex array of economic, political, and ethical problems in an interconnected world. The “transparency turn” in global environmental governance in particular is seen in a range of international agreements, voluntary disclosure initiatives, and public-private partnerships. This is the first book to investigate whether transparency in global environmental governance is in fact a broadly transformative force or plays a more limited, instrumental role. After three conceptual, context-setting chapters, the book examines ten specific and diverse instances of “governance by disclosure.” These include state-led mandatory disclosure initiatives that rely on such tools as prior informed consent and monitoring, measuring, reporting and verification; and private (or private-public), largely voluntary efforts that include such corporate transparency initiatives as the Carbon Disclosure Project and such certification schemes as the Forest Stewardship Council. The cases, which focus on issue areas including climate change, biodiversity, biotechnology, natural resource exploitation, and chemicals, demonstrate that although transparency is ubiquitous, its effects are limited and often specific to particular contexts. The book explores in what circumstances transparency can offer the possibility of a new emancipatory politics in global environmental governance.

Policies promoting pro-poor agricultural growth are the key to helping countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals especially the goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. The public sector, private sector, and civil society organizations are working to enhance productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector to reduce rural poverty and sustain the natural resource base. The pathways involve participation by rural communities, science and technology, knowledge generation and further learning, capacity enhancement, and institution building. Sustainable land management (SLM) an essential component of such policies will help to ensure the productivity of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and hydrology. SLM will also support a range of ecosystem services on which agriculture depends. The 'Sustainable Land Management Sourcebook' provides a knowledge repository of tested practices and innovative resource management approaches that are currently being tested. The diverse menu of options represents the current state of the art of good land management practices. Section one identifies the need and scope for SLM and food production in relation to cross-sector issues such as freshwater and forest resources, regional climate and air quality, and interactions with biodiversity conservation and increasingly valuable ecosystem services. Section two categorizes the diversity of land management systems globally and the strategies for improving household livelihoods in each system type. Section three presents a range of investment notes that summarize good practice, as well as innovative activity profiles that highlight design of successful or innovative investments. Section four identifies easy-to-access, Web-based resources relevant for land and natural resource managers. The 'Sourcebook' is a living document that will be periodically updated and expanded as new material and findings become available on good land management practices. This book will be of interest to project managers and practitioners working to enhance land and natural resource management in developing countries.