Forests for People

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on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reached a break-

through agreement on the ‘Bali Roadmap’ which

included an action plan for designing a system that

would allow financial rewards to flow to developing

countries that reduced carbon emissions, first from

deforestation and ultimately from forest degradation

as well (known as REDD).

Three years later in Cancún, Mexico, UNFCCC

negotiations produced a framework for combating

deforestation as a substantial source of carbon pollu-

tion, and a mechanism for financial incentives with

appropriate safeguards to reduce forest loss (now called

REDD+).

While deep-seated divisions and opposing

viewpoints dominate the global discussions around the

post-2012 climate architecture, one area on which most

countries agree in principle is the importance of REDD+

as part of the global solution.

More than US$3.7 billion has been pledged by devel-

oped countries to support developing countries in their

preparations to participate in a global REDD+ system.

In Asia alone there are hundreds of small and large

REDD+ projects underway, testing the many elements

that will eventually be incorporated into national

frameworks that are consistent with the emerging

requirements of the UNFCCC process.

across the global supply chain while promoting the expansion of

trade in legal timber products.

This led initially to a series of public timber procurement policies

and more recently to legislation in the United States and the European

Union to prohibit imports of wood and wood products from illegal

sources. These new laws – the 2008 Amendments to the US Lacey

Act and the EU Timber Regulation – have sparked a shift from short-

sighted, destructive timber extraction practices to a more sustainable

business model.

Private companies, which clearly want to continue to process,

manufacture, export and sell timber products, are responding to

these policy signals and, in doing so, putting more pressure on forest

concessions to ensure that the products flowing into timber supply

chains are from legal and sustainably harvested sources.

As companies respond to consumer demand in their major

markets, they are also looking to their governments for domestic

policy guidance that will ensure a level playing field and help their

industry stay competitive in this changing landscape. Indonesia’s

new Timber Legality Assurance System and China’s developing

system to verify the legality of both domestic and imported wood are

significant steps that producer and processor countries are taking

to bring national policy in line with the demands of international

markets.

Reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

–

In 2007, delegates to the United Nations Framework Convention

FSC certified logs, Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia