1. REDD+ and Beyond: Paris Agreement on Climate Change & Post-Paris Implementation Christine Dragisic and Evan Notman USAID Environment Officers Workshop February 25, 2016

2. Highlights Background on UNFCC REDD+ Decisions Paris Agreement on Climate Change REDD+ and Sustainable Landscapes Post-Paris Other Future Opportunities

3. UNFCCC REDD+ Decisions 1 st UNFCCC decision on REDD+ in 2007, at COP13 in Bali Subsequent decisions clarified scope, requirements, potential funding sources 3 final decisions were adopted at COP21 on Paris REDD+ negotiations under the UNFCCC have concluded.

4. UNFCCC REDD+ Decisions 1/CP13, 2/CP13 (2007): Introduces REDD+: “Policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries.” 4/CP15 (2009): Basic guidance on REDD+

5. UNFCCC REDD+ Decisions 1/CP16 (2010): Core decision on scope, requirements, safeguards o 5 activities (para 70) o Requires national strategy or action plan, national* forest reference level; national* forest monitoring system; safeguard information system (para 71) o 3 phases: 1)Development of strategies or action plans, and capacity building 2)Implementation of policies, measures, strategies, and action plans, and demonstration projects 3)Results-based actions that are fully measured, reported and verified o Establishes environmental and social safeguards for REDD+ *On an interim basis, subnational

6. UNFCCC REDD+ Decisions 2/CP17 (2011): Guidance on financing o For a developing country to be eligible for results-based finance, actions must be fully measured, reported and verified, and all requirements of 1/CP16 para 71 must be met; o Results-based finance may come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources; 12/CP17 (2011): o Safeguard Info Systems o Provides guidance for safeguard information systems o Requires submission of a summary of info to UNFCCC o Reference Levels o RLs are benchmark for assessing progress made in implementing REDD+ o Provides technical guidance for establishing RLs o Agrees RLs must be technically assessed

7. UNFCCC REDD+ Decisions 9-15/CP19 (2013): Warsaw Framework on REDD+ Creates an “InfoHub” to capture REDD+ results, other requirements, results-based payments Further guidance on national forest monitoring systems Further guidance on submitting safeguard info Guidelines for the technical assessment of reference levels Guidance for submitting “results” (MRV’d tonnes achieved through REDD+ activities) Guidelines for technical assessment of results  Package of decisions finalized core technical guidance for REDD+, links between technical information and eligibility for results-based payments

8. UNFCCC REDD+ Decisions 9-15/CP19 (2013): Warsaw Framework on REDD+ Creates an “InfoHub” to capture REDD+ results, other requirements, results-based payments Further guidance on national forest monitoring systems Further guidance on submitting safeguard info Guidelines for the technical assessment of reference levels Guidance for submitting “results” (MRV’d tonnes achieved through REDD+ activities) Guidelines for technical assessment of results  Package of decisions finalized core technical guidance for REDD+, links between technical information and eligibility for results-based payments

9. UNFCCC REDD+ Decisions 16-18/CP21 (2015): Provided additional guidance on safeguard info Recognized alternative policy approaches (essentially non- results-based-payment focused) Recognized the importance of non-carbon benefits  These decisions concluded all REDD+ guidance under the UNFCCC. The REDD+ agenda item was closed.

10. Paris Agreement – Land Sector  The role of land, including forests, in addressing climate change was fully recognized in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Use of “sinks,” “reservoirs,” removals” throughout Article 5 o All Parties should take action to conserve and enhance sinks and reservoirs, including forests. o All Parties are encouraged to implement and support REDD+ and “alternative policy approaches;” incentivizing non-carbon benefits is also reflected. o Decision 1/CP21 o The importance of financing for REDD+ and alternative policy approaches is recognized (decision 1/CP21).

11. Paris Agreement – Key Elements Ambition o Goal of limiting global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels with efforts to achieve 1.5°C o Parties are required to submit new or revisited NDCs every 5 years. Each successive NDC should be more ambitious than the one before

12. Paris Agreement – Key Elements Mitigation o Encourages parties, by 2020, to submit “mid-century” LEDS to help frame their long term development and mitigation vision. o Parties shall account for anthropogenic emissions and removals, and avoid double counting o Parties should take into account existing accounting approaches. o 1/CP21 establishes accounting principles that will guide a future work plan: accounting for emissions and removals, using IPCC methodologies and common metrics, methodological consistency, striving to include all categories of emissions by sources and removals by sinks or explain any omissions. Principles apply to the second and subsequent contributions, and voluntarily to the first.

13. Paris Agreement – Key Elements Markets o Allows the use of “cooperative approaches” – essentially non-centralized market mechanisms o Combines market and non-market based approaches through voluntary market mechanism o Avoid double counting o 1/CP21 sets out a work program for creating modalities and procedures for a market mechanism

14. Paris Agreement – Key Elements Transparency o Global stocktaking and international review of progress on mitigation starting in 2018 o Parties to provide a national inventory at least every 2 years o Parties must report on tracking progress (eg accounting) made in implementing and achieving their contributions o This information will be reviewed o 1/CP21 sets out a work program for reporting and review

15. REDD+ Post-Paris  Strong global support for REDD+, lands o REDD+ has strong global support o The inclusion of REDD+ in the Agreement was a developing country ask. o All countries agreed to inclusion o Developing countries also want to employ different approaches o Push for “alternative policy approaches” o Some countries did not want to reference one specific approach

16. REDD+ Post-Paris  New incentives for action o Many countries included forests, lands in their INDCs o As countries ratchet up ambition, new mitigation opportunities become more important o Some countries may choose to use cooperative approaches/ markets (No new REDD+ fund or mechanism created.)

17. Other Potential Opportunities International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): Global Market Based Measure Green Climate Fund: REDD+, SFM, joint adaptation and mitigation approaches Ecosystem-based adaptation REDD+ Results-Based Payments Multilateral Initiatives Forest Carbon Partnership Facility BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes Forest Investment Program Central African Forest Initiative Commodity Sourcing: E.g. Commodities/jurisdictions approach

18. Questions?

19. REDD+ Programing post Paris USAID Environment Officers Workshop, February 25, 2016 Evan Notman, E3/GCC

20. High Level Q&A Q: So is REDD+ still relevant? A: Yes! Q: Is Significant new money going to flow to REDD+ now? A: Probably not immediately, but there are certainly new opportunities Post-Paris & Existing funds are starting to flow (Forest Carbon Fund, GCF) Q: Will existing voluntary forest carbon markets go away post Paris? A: Very unlikely, but demand and structure will continue to adapt – still a clear and potential role, and very broad support to ensure systems can incorporate existing verified emission removals (VERs). Q: The U.S. INDC said it will not include any offsets – does that mean we will no longer support REDD+? A: No, we are still supportive of REDD+ and the potential for using offsets as part of the available approaches to achieve global emission reduction targets. LEDS, EC-LEDS and INDCs Country support needed: USAID’s role Mission support available from USAID Washington

21. Q&A continued Q: Where does REDD+ fit into NDCs? A: Emissions from deforestation and or other land use were included in at least 128 INDC’s Actions to reduce deforestation are likely to be an important part of many countries NDC Many countries stated they expected international support to achieve some of their actions Any offsets purchased by others (not part of national cap and trade) should not be included in NDCs to avoid double counting

22. Opportunities for continued and future work on REDD+ Supporting existing project level work –Helping to define relationship of projects to NDC and broad REDD+ strategy –Finding the finance – we want to work with you to help do this in the evolving post-Paris context Connecting to broader interest in private sector to reduce deforestation in current activities and interest to explore new innovative financing for low emission land use activities. Bringing national LEDs planning and policy down to the jurisdictional scale New emphasis on transparency creates new urgency and needs to create effective MRV systems that are also relevant to planning, implementation and management.