UN-REDD Programme Tenth Executive Board Meeting
Pre-Meeting
Welcome reception
Welcome reception
Food and drinks provided. All meeting participants welcome.
Venue: FAO rooftop terrace
UN-REDD Programme Tenth Executive Board Meeting
Registration and coffee
Ethiopia Room (C 289), FAO Headquarters, Rome
Opening
The tenth meeting of the UN-REDD Executive Board (EB10) takes place at an important point for the Programme and the wider forest and climate agenda. Implementation of the UN-REDD 2026–2030 Strategy is advancing, while international attention is increasingly shifting from proof of concept towards implementation and scale. Against this backdrop, EB10 is designed to combine the Board’s Programme oversight role with strategic, action-oriented discussion on some of the practical breakthroughs needed to accelerate REDD+ implementation and finance.
The meeting will begin with a Programme-level overview of progress and outlook. This will provide a concise update on results, the financial and resource position, follow-up to EB9, and how UN-REDD delivers through country engagement, the combined capacities of FAO, UNDP and UNEP, and wider strategic partnerships. This opening discussion will establish a common picture of where the Programme stands and provide the context for the strategic sessions that follow.
The main part of the day will then focus on three strategic action areas that are central to moving from REDD+ readiness and demonstrated results towards implementation at greater scale:
- Systemic barriers to accelerating and scaling REDD+: examining systemic barriers that continue to constrain jurisdictional REDD+ credit issuance and access to results-based finance, and where coordinated action can unlock near-term progress.
- Advancing land tenure rights for lasting impact in tropical forest countries: considering how progress on tenure rights can be accelerated and sustained as a foundation for durable, equitable forest outcomes.
- Cross-sectoral policy alignment: exploring how greater coherence across forest, agriculture and other relevant policy and investment frameworks can address the underlying drivers of deforestation and sustain REDD+ results.
These discussions are intended to move beyond general diagnosis. Each session will set the wider landscape, focus on specific implementation challenges and opportunities where progress is possible, and draw on the experience and perspectives of Board members to identify practical responses. Particular attention will be given to what UN-REDD can concretely contribute in 2027 and beyond, building on its country engagement, technical expertise, convening role and partnerships.
Board members are invited to bring their own country, constituency and institutional perspectives: to test the diagnostics presented, identify missing dimensions or opportunities, share experience of what is working, and provide guidance on where UN-REDD can add greatest value. The objective is to leave EB10 with a stronger shared understanding of the implementation challenges ahead and clear strategic guidance for UN-REDD that can be translated into action following the meeting.
Session 1: Programme overview, updates and EB9 follow-up
This session will provide a concise overview of Programme progress since EB9, the financial status and follow-up to EB9 actions, and the Programme's delivery approach. The discussion will provide the programme-level context to the three strategic sessions that follow.
Intended outcome: Board members share a common understanding of Programme delivery and the financial and resource outlook, and the programme-level context is set for the three strategic sessions that follow.
- Background note session 1: English | Español | Français
- UN-REDD 2026 Semi Annual Progress: English
- UN-REDD 2025 Annual Report: English
- UN-REDD 2025 Annual Report Executive Summary: Español | Français
- UN-REDD Programme Terms of Reference: English
- Presentation Session 1 Programme overview, updates and EB9 follow-up: English
- UN-REDD 2026 Gender Updates: English
Session 2: Systemic barriers to accelerating and scaling REDD+
This session will examine the structural bottlenecks along the jurisdictional REDD+ value chain – standards conformance, validation and verification, ERPA negotiation and financial intermediation – that delay credit issuance and access to results-based finance, drawing on country, donor, Indigenous Peoples’ and civil society perspectives.
Intended outcome: The Board identifies the priority bottlenecks to be resolved and provides guidance on UN-REDD’s contribution in 2027 to a coordinated, inclusive dialogue process to scale and accelerate JREDD+ credit issuance in the lead-up to 2030.
Lunch
Session 2 continued
Session 3: Advancing land tenure rights for lasting impact in tropical forest countries
This session will take stock of UN-REDD’s land tenure work (ILTC and beyond), at both global and country level, and draw lessons from country experience on what has worked and what has proved more challenging.
Intended outcome: The Board provides guidance on the geographic scope, modalities of support and partnerships through which UN-REDD should scale and sustain tenure results in 2027 and beyond.
Coffee break
Session 4: Cross Sectoral Policy Alignment
This session will consider how alignment across agricultural, land, fiscal, trade, infrastructure and social policies underpins durable REDD+ results, drawing on country experience in diagnosing incoherence, navigating trade-offs and connecting policy instruments to budgets.
Intended outcome: The Board identifies priority functions for UN-REDD support in 2027 – where the Programme should lead, partner or refer – and where that support should be prioritized.