REDD the victim of stalled COP15

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) believes a deal of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD) could be sacrificed as time runs out on COP15 deals.

A deal on REDD looked on the cards last week but now could be stalled on a small number of unresolved issues or sacrificed because of the lack of progress in other areas of the bigger deal, says IUCN.

Stewart Maginnis, director of IUCN’s environment and development group said today (December 15), said: “Don’t hold REDD hostage to the current impasse in the negotiations.

“If we are going to stabilize atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases by 2020 we urgently need REDD-plus up and running as soon as possible.”

Two new reports from IUCN released today underline the importance of REDD in fighting global warming.

According to IUCN’s True Cost of REDD study forest communities, the environment and businesses can all benefit from REDD-plus.

The study found that in many cases in the Brazilian Amazon and in Indonesia, the financial returns to agriculture and livestock production on recently deforested land are so low that REDD payments would be an attractive option for many landholders.

Luke Walsh