30 September 2013: The Governments of Norway and Germany have signed an agreement to cooperate with Ecuador to purchase Ecuador’s emission reductions and contribute $2.6 million to strengthening national capacities in Ecuador.

The payments are anticipated to be used to: finance REDD+ projects; strengthen forest governance; develop measurement, reporting and verification information; and support other national processes to reduce emissions.

The four-year agreement will be developed, in part, through the UN-REDD Programme, which is coordinated between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). [FAO Press Release]