OVERVIEW
Deforestation in the tropics is believed to account for almost 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia are among the countries with the highest rate of deforestation. Europe, on the other hand, is keen to reach an ambitious agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Copenhagen. The current provisions under the Clean Development Mechanism (or CDM) do not include carbon reductions from avoided deforestation or forest degradation. At the COP 13 in Bali, leaders decided to work on a mechanism to include emission reductions from forests. The result was the REDD scheme.
This forum addressed one of the biggest challenges faced in the process of designing the REDD mechanism, namely, ensuring a broad participation of the private sector. Private sector participation is critical to ensuring that the global carbon market will function effectively and live up to the expectations of the climate change community, while also providing sufficient funding of the mechanism from the outset, as well as in the long term.
A number of potential obstacles to the participation of the private sector have been identified. These include the issue of governance in the countries concerned, the approach (national vs project-based), the regulatory framework, standards for risk management, providing incentives for pioneer projects, as well as other points of disagreement.
THE ISSUES
This forum addressed the key issues of the challenges in designing the REDD mechanism, the potential barriers to the private sector’s participation in the REDD scheme, and possible means of removing these barriers to encourage greater engagement of the private sector.
