A side event on the ‘International REDD + architecture and its relevance for developing countries’ was organized at the Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 11) by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

Reducing emissions from developing countries stand to gain significantly from the emerging architecture for reducing emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+). Not only would this generate additional funding for forest conservation and management efforts but also contribute towards community development, biodiversity conservation and enhancement of ecosystem services.

Speaking at the event, A K Bansal, Additional Director-General (Forest Conservation), MoEF said that the ‘Government is taking steps to prepare the country towards securing additional funding through the REDD Plus mechanism by setting up a national REDD Cell. He also mentioned that the cause of deforestation could lie outside the forestry sector, and efforts should be made to develop non-forest livelihood options to reduce pressure on forests".

Dr J V Sharma of TERI said "Carbon high transaction costs prevented developing countries from taking advantage of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and it is therefore important to develop a simple and flexible methodology for REDD Plus Projects. Towards this, TERI has initiated pilot assessment in six sites of India, and held several community-level consultations across the country". Dr C S Silori from RECOFTC, Bangkok and Mr Jorge Herman-Lopes from CICERO, Norway presented relevant experiences from selected South East Asian and African countries.

In the panel discussion that followed, S N Mahmood, Inspector-General of Forests, Pakistan, Alamgir Hussain, UNDP, Bangladesh, Dr Krishna Prasad Oli, ICIMOD, Nepal and Subhash Chandra, Deputy Inspector General of Forests, MoEF, India shared respective country experiences.