The International Conference on the Major Forest Basins, which took place in Paris, France, on 11 March 2010, brought representatives from 64 countries together to discuss funding for REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, plus conservation, sustainable management of forests, and stock enhancement) activities during 2010-2012.

Donors pledged an additional $1 billion in REDD+ funding, to add to the $3.5 billion pledged in December 2009 by Australia, France, Japan, Norway, the UK and the US.
The conference, which was hosted by the French Government, was opened by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and included speeches from other high-level government officials from, inter alia, Brazil, Republic of the Congo and Norway. Participants engaged in three sessions on: pledges of initial funding and action for forests; coordination of initial funding and action for forests; and organization of long-term international action concerning REDD+.
Representatives from ten countries, including both developed and developing countries, were appointed to form a REDD+ steering group. Among its first tasks will be to consider how to fairly distribute the billions in early funding among forest countries, which include Brazil, Congo, Indonesia and a host of smaller tropical countries. A second conference will be organized in Oslo, Norway, in May 2010, with a view to delivering to the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico in December 2010, a concrete plan devoted specifically to deforestation.
Links to further information
NPR media release, 11 March 2010
Conference press kit
Conference website