2 December 2014: The event titled ‘Linking Policy and Practice: Approaches to REDD+ Benefit Sharing’ convened on the margins of the Lima Climate Change Conference, and discussed opportunities for and challenges to REDD+ benefit sharing and provided relevant lessons from stakeholders. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and The Forests Dialogue (TFD), organizers of the event, presented the report ‘TFD Review: Country Options for REDD+ Benefit-Sharing.’

Underscoring that benefits from REDD+ are not just environmental, Iwan Wibisono, REDD+ Agency, Indonesia, highlighted sustainable forest management (SFM) and increased economic productivity as additional REDD+ benefits. Wibisono also offered lessons in co-managing forests with interested stakeholders, especially the private sector, from his country’s experience in land leasing to forest communities.

Acknowledging difficulties in REDD+ implementation where forest communities lack tenure rights, Percy Summers, Conservation International (CI), described the negotiation of conservation agreements with Peruvian Amazon communities. He reported that a main challenge was avoiding creating a precedent of issuing land titles to communities living in protected areas while also teaching them to both thrive and conserve the environment.

Christopher Meyer, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), urged a broader definition of the private sector that would include local forest enterprises and individual actors. Noting the role of some private actors in causing land disputes, Meyer highlighted intangible benefits of REDD+ such as conflict resolution.

Leticia Gutierrez Lorandi, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), emphasized the importance of national safeguard systems, legal and policy frameworks, financial architecture and benefit-sharing mechanisms.

Participants then discussed, inter alia, economic threats to REDD+ implementation; incentives for forest communities to sign conservation agreements; scaling up REDD+ pilot projects to the national level; and providing alternative livelihood activities to forest communities.

TFD is a multi-stakeholder engagement that encourages solution-based discussions on forest conservation in areas of high deforestation and degradation risk. Its report ‘TFD Review: Country Options for REDD+ Benefit Sharing: Insights from TFD’s Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Initiative’ shares the results and insights gained from a series of dialogues held in Peru, Ghana, Mexico and Viet Nam with representatives from 25 countries and organized in partnership with IUCN. [IISD RS ENBOTS Coverage] [IISD RS ENBOTS Video Coverage of Side Event] [IISD RS Coverage of Lima Climate Change Conference] [TFD Event Announcement] [Publication: TFD Review: Country Options for REDD+ Benefit Sharing: Insights from TFD’s Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Initiative] [IUCN Event Announcement]