Maximizing learning from REDD Demonstration Activities

What we are able to learn from the first generation of sub-national REDD ‘demonstration activities’ (part of the global process agreed in Bali) will have a fundamental impact on the international REDD mechanism’s ability to promote the design of policies and actions that are equitable and generate the co-benefits, and will have a crucial impact on the design of the second generation of REDD strategies and activities.

This project, being carried out by CIFOR, sets out to ensure that first-generation REDD demonstration activities (part of the global process agreed in Bali) draw on analysis and tools in their design and implementation which maximize learning about how to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and equitability, by designing a “Toolkit for Learning from REDD Demonstration Activities”.

Using this toolkit, agencies implementing demonstration activities glean the learning from their activities, as well as contribute to a global assessment of first generation REDD demonstration activities. The toolkit will lay out the principles by which learning can be maximized, provide options for monitoring and experimental design, and recommend standardized reporting systems. It will permit REDD outcomes to be examined in terms of carbon delivered, impacts on ecosystem services other than carbon, livelihood impacts, and impacts on local governance arrangements. Special attention will be paid to rights and tenure, and the fate of marginalized people, including indigenous groups, the poorest sectors of society, and women.