Cambodia

• Mainstreaming REDD+ in Policies: The REDD+ program is increasingly recognized within domestic environment policies such as Circular Strategy on Environment 2023-2028; however, further institutional support is necessary. This includes developing REDD+-related roadmaps, sustainable allocation of resources, and enhancing capacities at both national and jurisdictional levels.

• Importance of Technical Expertise: Sustained technical input is vital for making informed decisions regarding the national REDD+ program. Adequate technical knowledge, an understanding of national circumstances, and thorough analysis of implications are essential for effective program implementation.

• Active Engagement and Political Awareness: Engaging stakeholders actively is crucial, especially given the political challenges inherent in implementing REDD+. Government institutions and stakeholders often have differing approaches, interests, and concerns. Therefore, effective multi-stakeholder dialogues and coordination are essential for overcoming these challenges.

• Collaborative Partnerships with IPLCs: Building strong partnerships with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), development partners, NGOs, and project developers enhances both technical and operational capacities. These collaborations are vital for the successful implementation of REDD+ initiatives.

• Value of Demonstration Projects: Piloting demonstration projects has proven beneficial in strengthening integrity and providing valuable lessons during the readiness phase. Several VCM REDD+ demonstration projects have been supported by the Cambodian government, leading to improved operational capacity and procedures related to authorisation, safeguards, environmental integrity, and reporting requirements.

Democratic Republic of Congo

The DRC has established a comprehensive REDD+ framework to incentivize sustainable land-use practices. These key lessons highlight the complex challenges and opportunities associated with implementing REDD+ projects. They emphasize the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, gender equality, good governance, and community engagement. These financial efforts indicate the DRC's dedication to REDD+, but the success of these initiatives is contingent upon effective governance and community involvement. 

The national REDD+ strategy is aligned with the DRC’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, which include:

• A Sense of Ownership: High-level ownership of REDD+ is necessary to mobilize financing. This means that top-level government officials must be committed to REDD+ in order to attract funding.

• Gender Assessment: A deep gender analysis of men's and women's activities in REDD+ sectors is essential to ensure its sustainability. Understanding how men and women interact with forests and REDD+ projects is crucial for long-term success.

• Support from Private Sector: The private sector's limited involvement in REDD+ hinders its potential as an agent of change, a source of finance, and a catalyst for green innovation. By investing in sustainable forest management, the private sector can play a pivotal role in achieving REDD+ goals. 

• Good governance: REDD+ is closely linked to the issue of governance whereby good governance is essential for the success of REDD+ projects. Among others, provisions to address complaints and appeals, corruption are necessary. 

• Systemic Approach: a systemic approach is needed to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in a sustainable manner. To effectively combat deforestation, a holistic approach that considers all the underlying causes is required.

• Stakeholder engagement and knowledge management: A clear and unequivocal message about REDD+ is needed to disseminate information, education, and communication activities for community anchoring. It is necessary to maintain effective communication to engage with local communities in REDD+ efforts. Aside from that, building human and institutional capacity, including community monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) and securing land and forest rights, is crucial for successful REDD+ implementation. Farmers possess valuable local knowledge about land use practices, and traditional knowledge held by local communities can contribute significantly to sustainable forest management.

• Supporting local farmers: Traditional knowledge of local communities can be a valuable resource for sustainable forest management. Farmers have local knowledge about land use. Therefore, it is necessary to support and organize farmer structures to help them increase household incomes, livelihoods and ensure the sustainability of actions.

• Ensure good planning: Good planning is necessary to avoid double-counting of climate commitments, and to ensure that REDD+ activities do not overlap with other climate initiatives.

• MRV: Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification, a system to track progress and ensure the effectiveness of REDD+ projects, is critical to ensure REDD+ achieve its aims. 

• CLEAR: Collaborative Platform for Landscape Restoration, which is an initiative to promote landscape restoration.

Indonesia

Role of forestry sector in Indonesia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement has continuously increased since the adoption of the agreement. In both Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and Long-Term Strategy on Low Carbon and Climate Resilience (LTS-LCCR) 2050, forestry and land use (FOLU) sector has set an ambitious target through a transformation from net emitter to net-sink in 2030. Among mitigation actions in forestry, REDD+ plays an important role in achieving NDC and FOLU net-sink targets.

REDD+ effectiveness in Indonesia is contingent upon the successful implementation of these factors:

• Strengthening MRV systems by investing in advanced technologies and training will improve the accuracy of data collection and reporting, ensuring transparency and accountability. The utilized a robust MRV framework has succeeded to facilitate over $1 billion in performance-based payments to local communities. This underscores the importance of effective stakeholder engagement and transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms in driving substantial financial flows for conservation efforts.

• Enhancing community engagement through robust social forestry programs will empower local communities, enabling them to play an active role in forest management while directly benefiting from conservation efforts.

• Diversifying funding sources by exploring additional avenues, including public-private partnerships and international financing, will provide essential support for the ongoing implementation of the FOLU Net Sink initiative.

• Strong liaison between law enforcement and active community engagement succeeds to reduce 43% of deforestation in East Kalimantan that speeds up decision-making processes. The localized governance model has empowered communities to manage their resources more effectively

• Comprehensive Training Programs: Developing targeted training programs for local stakeholders can enhance their capacity to implement and monitor REDD+ activities effectively. This could involve workshops and hands-on training to reach at least 1,000 local officials and community leaders by 2026.

• Simplifying Safeguard Reporting Processes: Streamlining the reporting processes for safeguards will encourage more local governments to participate fully and accurately. This may involve creating user-friendly templates and providing technical support.

• Strengthening Continuous Monitoring Systems: Investing in advanced monitoring technologies, such as drones and remote sensing, can provide real-time data on deforestation and emissions. Establishing a dedicated monitoring unit within the government to oversee these efforts could further enhance transparency and accountability.

• Engaging the Private Sector: Encouraging private sector investment in sustainable land-use practices could diversify funding sources and promote innovative solutions to REDD+ challenges.

Costa Rica

REDD+ journey:

• REDD+ baseline: strong forest legislation, which prohibits land-use change and formalizes economic incentives for forest protection, and experienced environmental institutions were the baseline for implementing REDD+ in Costa Rica.

• Institutional and programmatic strengthening: from 2011 to 2015, a participatory process was carried out to design the National REDD+ Costa Rica Strategy, which was finalized in 2017. This document has guided the country in its REDD+ participation and has allowed access to about USD114 million to ensure the consolidation of REDD+ enabling conditions, such as addressing social and environmental safeguards and standards and the monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions, among other things.

• Indigenous forest governance: in Costa Rica, 17 of the 24 indigenous territories have had payment for environmental services (PES) since 1997. Since 2010, indigenous territories have been involved in REDD+ issues to gain access to economic recognition for forest conservation. In 2021, by decision of the indigenous peoples, forest and territorial environmental plans (FTEP) began to be drawn up in the country's 24 territories to establish how climate finance resources will be invested. Women, young people, the elderly, and organized groups have been key players in this planning. The plans have improved forest governance and the planning of projects of broad impact for each territory.

• Women's participation: the institutions that make up the National REDD+ Costa Rica Secretariat (the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) and the Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO) have made efforts and implemented Gender Plans to ensure women's participation in REDD+. Currently, 36% of forest firefighters in Costa Rica are women and 21% of women are PES beneficiaries. The role of women in conservation and sustainable development has also been highlighted, as well as the importance of addressing existing gaps such as land tenure (in Costa Rica, women own about 10% of the properties).

• Relationships have been strengthened with agricultural stakeholders for the implementation of REDD+ measures, including the implementation of the due diligence process to declare the first coffee harvest free of deforestation and support the implementation of this process among the country's coffee producing, processing and exporting community. REDD+ is also working with timber producers and will soon start working with cocoa.

PBPA Results

The PBPA has transferred USD 45,172,942 in non-reimbursable funds (87.5% of the resources) to the State in its four years of implementation. The disbursement follows an audit of results and goals by an independent third party of two FONAFIFO and SINAC programs. Among these results are the following:

• Direct and annual payments have been recognized by the PES Program for a total of 687,538 hectares of PES, in the modality of forest protection on private lands during 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. This directly benefits more than 21,500 people (22% are small producers, 21% are women and 33% are properties in areas with a very low human development index).

• A total of 130,255 hectares in PES have been recognized in indigenous territories for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024, covering 17 of the 24 Costa Rican indigenous territories. These resources are reinvested in social and environmental needs of the territories and impact more than 42,000 thousand people, located in territories with low social development indexes. (48% women).

• The percentage of level 1 fires attended (fires attended to when small) in the years from 2021 to 2024 has been 90%.

• The National Program for Integrated Fire Management has received close to USD 500,000 in protection equipment, vehicles, and tools for fire management and control in 10 of the country's 11 conservation areas. These program investments are recognized in economic resources to be reinvested in equipment and actions to strengthen the program.

PBPA Lessons Learned & Challenges

• The PBPA is an objective and rigorous instrument useful for making transfers of great economic value, guaranteeing results, achievements, transparency, and improvement actions to audited programs. It requires constant coordination between entities.

• The instrument makes it possible to associate targets and results with social and environmental safeguards and standards and risk analysis. It includes indicators on the participation of women, indigenous peoples, environmental actions such as technical capacity building and environmental program teams, and campaigns on labor rights and gender violence.

• The PBPA requires a mediator figure between the audited programs and the independent auditor (IA) for agreements on indicators, evaluation methodology and conducting desk and field reviews and agreeing on the results, as a process of agreements and consensus.

• Initially, there may be resistance to change that can be overcome through the repeated use of the PBPA, which measures results and progress in national and institutional cultural issues. Economic incentives can drive positive social and environmental change.

Brazil

• Subnational REDD+ Pilots and Knowledge Accumen: The subnational REDD Early Movers (REM) programs enabled the testing of pilots in smaller areas, which also facilitated the engagement of local stakeholders. This helped subnational governments become better prepared for discussions at the federal level and support the preparation of the National REDD+ Strategy (ENREDD).

• Strengthening Social Participation in the National Strategy: One of the key challenges was to engage and maintain social participation across various sectors.  The solutions explored considered how to strengthen transparency, information sharing, and capacity building, which covered the following. As a result, there was active social participation, even during transitional periods, ensuring the continuity of implementation. 

  • Actions defined by the governance body of the National Strategy (ENREDD). 

  • Clear and accessible information is available on an active website, and training programs.

  • Make all discussions and decisions within the governance body (minutes, resolutions, etc.) publicly available.

  • Keep a Grievance Redress Mechanism permanently active.

  • Continuous multiple levels stakeholders' capacity building (local, subnational, and national).

• Previous Investments in Monitoring Systems were key to the creation of the Amazon Fund and strengthened the country’s capacity to implement the REDD+ architecture.

Ecuador

• Inclusive Participation: A national REDD+ strategy was developed through an inclusive approach, establishing a REDD+ working group that unites government agencies, academia, civil society, and Indigenous and local communities, including Amazonian Indigenous organizations. This ensures that Indigenous rights and perspectives are fully integrated into the REDD+ National Action Plan.

• International Collaboration: Key partnerships were formed with UN-REDD+, Italy’s Giorni Initiative, German cooperation, and other entities to support Ecuador’s REDD+ readiness.

• Sustainable Agriculture: Sustainable, deforestation-free production was promoted across 93,105 hectares, supporting 16,519 local Amazonian producers of coffee, cocoa, palm oil, and livestock. As a result, productivity has risen by 24%, gross income by 42%, and deforestation has been reduced by 93% in intervention areas.

• Forest Governance: Interventions across five provinces benefited 12,718 individuals (41% women) and initiated restoration on 15,023 hectares of degraded landscapes in Ecuador’s Amazon and dry forest regions. Additionally, support for over 30 bio-enterprises contributed to the conservation of 186,494 hectares of forested areas.

• Land Tenure Security: Forest governance and land tenure security were strengthened through land rights management within protected forests and national protected areas. Baseline data on land tenure was collected for 14 conservation areas (6 protected areas and 8 protective forests), covering 1,291,708 hectares. In Ecuador’s largest protective forest, Kutukú Shaimi, land legalization was completed for two Shuar communities, encompassing 359 individuals (167 women) and covering 9,085 hectares.

PBPA Lessons Learned & Challenges

• Ecuador’s PBPA has proven to be an effective and adaptable tool to incentivize SDG compliance and reduce GHG emissions through coordinated national and local action. Despite the diversity in ecosystems and governance models among participating local governments, the initiative successfully met all objectives, underscoring the critical role of local governments in achieving national REDD+ targets.

Key insights include:

• Economic incentives for reducing deforestation can be directed not only to individuals but also to local governments to foster territorial actions that meet PBPA goals.

• Reinvesting these incentives into forest conservation and good environmental practices creates a positive cycle, enabling local governments to access greater funding for area management.

• Environmental and social safeguards should be embedded in the design of the mechanism to ensure comprehensive compliance.

• Community involvement, particularly landowners, is essential for the PBPA’s success.

• Diverse stakeholder engagement, including independent assessors, is critical for transparent implementation.

• A primary challenge remains in creating mechanisms to sustain these actions over time, even after PBPA implementation ends. To address this, it is vital to explore tools that allow implementing agencies and national governments to replicate and tailor the PBPA mechanism to national needs, ensuring lasting funding for conservation at the local level.