Resource information
Forest loss contributes to one-sixth of annual greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change. Experience shows that approaches to reducing deforestation and forest degradation and strengthening forest governance – such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) – can be far more effective in countering forest loss if they are jointly implemented. To date, however, few countries have capitalized on the synergies between these processes. Widely acknowledged similarities between the objectives of REDD+ and FLEGT initiatives present obvious opportunities for common action to address deforestation and strengthen forest governance. Both REDD+ and FLEGT share a number of common goals and approaches and target the same actors – forest sector stakeholders from government entities, local communities and indigenous people, as well as the private sector. Both are incentive-based mechanisms to promote the sustainable management of forests, and both place strong emphasis on forest governance for their success.
