REDD + within the post-Kyoto climate change regime: ensuring equity without creating ‘tropical hot air’

This paper discusses strategies to make the global program for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and Enhancement of Forest Stocks (REDD+) an effective and equitable part of the post-Kyoto Climate Change Regime. This work submits that, in order for any global REDD+ strategy to succeed, it must be transparent in design and must also provide results-based financing that is appropriate to different developing country situations. It is further argued that the current proposals for REDD+ results-based financing either do not offer suitable incentives for countries with high forest cover and low historical rates of deforestation (thereby essentially rewarding poor past performers), or they seek to address equity concerns in a non-transparent manner that could exacerbate problems of “tropical hot air” by paying for artificial achievements.