Search

KEY MESSAGES • Forests are a crucial part of the climate solution if sustainably managed, and sustainable management requires up-to-date, unbiased, accurate and transparent information. • National forest monitoring systems (NFMS) are a foundation for national decision-making, monitoring the implementation and effects of forest policy actions, sustainable forest management, REDD+ and the enhanced transparency framework for action and support of the Paris Agreement under UNFCCC, through the provision of transparent, reliable, relevant, accessible and sustainable forest data. • Since its inception, the UN-REDD Programme has supported over 50 countries in the development of multipurpose national forest monitoring systems. • The Programme has helped 30 countries to meet their international reporting requirements under UNFCCC and continues to support the strengthening of national forest monitoring systems to generate data to improve the quality of reporting and enhance transparency. • To help practitioners to put forest monitoring systems in place, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed a range of supporting materials, including the Voluntary Guidelines for National Forest Monitoring and various free, open-source software tools and platforms, such as Open Foris and SEPAL. Those resources have provided a foundation for UN-REDD capacity development over the past 10 years.

KEY MESSAGES • Funding mechanisms for REDD+ are the governance structures that countries put in place to gain access to and channel funding towards the policies and measures on the ground that address the drivers of deforestation. • Sources of private finance, including voluntary carbon markets, are playing an increasing role in leveraging public funds to support REDD+ implementation. • Ensuring integrity, transparency and accountability in fund management is key to delivering effective results, and to both domestic and international confidence in fund management.

The UN-REDD Programme has supported many partner countries by conducting analyses that highlight the ways in which protecting, restoring and sustainably using forests contributes to the transition towards a green economy. A second area of work is centred on supporting partner countries through private sector engagement and the ways in which actions can be financed under the REDD+ mechanism in practice. The crosscutting topic of private sector engagement in the UN-REDD Programme is of particular relevance, given that most tropical deforestation and forest degradation is directly or indirectly caused by private individuals and entities, including farmers and companies of all sizes that produce, process and trade timber and agricultural commodities such as soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber, cocoa and beef cattle. Charcoal production and slashand-burn activities to meet subsistence needs also contribute to deforestation and forest degradation.