23 May 2011: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the World Bank’s Program on Forests (PROFOR) have released a forest governance guidance framework with applications for developing countries’ efforts for REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks), titled “Framework for Assessing and Monitoring Forest Governance.”

The framework provides a checklist for identifying potential problems in the governance of forest resources. It is based on three pillars of forest governance: policy, legal, institution and regulatory frameworks; planning and decision-making processes; and implementation, enforcement and compliance. The framework calls for grading performance in six areas: accountability, effectiveness, efficiency, fairness, participation and transparency. The approach aims to help avert fraud, ineffective projects and corruption and misappropriation of funds during the implementation of REDD+ initiatives.

Complementing the FAO-World Bank framework, the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) and and Chatham House presented a document that focuses on the provision of information on governance issues related to REDD+. The draft “Guidance for the Provision of Information on REDD+ Governance” aims to provide flexible guidance on main elements to consider when establishing a national information system. The Guidance is structured around three main questions: what information to provide; how to generate and provide this information; and who should be involved in providing it.

Pilot projects are planned to test and strengthen the two frameworks. [Publication: Framework for Assessing and Monitoring Forest Governance] [Publication: Draft Guidance for the Provision of Information on REDD+ Governance]