12 December 2014: In order to further explore how local initiatives can be linked to international REDD+ processes, the UN University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) assessed experiences from projects that seek to combine global environmental goals with local development objectives.

Overall, the report ‘Strengthening Development in International-Local Institutional Linkages in REDD+ – Lessons from Existing Forest-Carbon Initiatives’ seeks to explain how inconsistencies between global and local policies, priorities and forest management choices emerge and what can be done to address them. In particular, the report notes that communities are often able to manage REDD+ projects if sustainable forest management practices are already in place to some extent, projects deliver local benefits, local problems are addressed, information is freely available, local organizations are engaged, and rules are simple, resulting in low transaction costs.

On the other hand, the report notes that links with national and international organizations and processes are necessary in order to manage the complex data and legal structure needs of REDD+. Engagement with international REDD+ initiatives is, according to the report, also important for the mobilization of funding and payment of carbon credits. [Publication: Strengthening Development in International-Local Institutional Linkages in REDD+ – Lessons from Existing Forest-Carbon Initiatives]