We’re at Forest Day 3 today as the Bella Center and COP15 has taken a day of rest. 

·         Inclusiveness: Develop policies that recognize climate benefits from all forest types

·         Localization: REDD policies need to be implemented at the provincial level, after all mitigation is action on the ground

·         Cost: Cost of implementing REDD is reasonable, but still it is a high cost for small farmers and forest people. Therefore REDD should  come without strings attached  in order to move all governments towards sustainable forest management

·         Equity: When REDD money arrives, it shouldn’t stay in the hand of the governments.

REDD can achieve all of the above because as stated by Indonesia’s Secretariat National Council on Climate Change it is a) performance-based b) scalable, and c) addresses the fundamental drivers of deforestation

What about effects on agriculture if REDD was implemented on a mass scale successfully? While most agree that the ‘battle to feed the world won’t be fought in the forest,’ there was disagreement on how to reallocate agricultural lands sustainably. Clearly, any market mechanism designed to avoid deforestation must also include methodologies and solutions that also take into account the role of agriculture.