JREDD+ is a critical component of the global toolkit for forests

The livelihoods of over one and a half billion people depend on forests.? They enrich the lives of every one of us, in some way.? Providing an untold wealth of public services – not least regulating our fragile global climate – and sustaining many of our most fundamental industries (food, water and energy among them).???

Perhaps then, it goes without saying that preserving forests is a matter of utmost importance for both governments and businesses.? But what is the best way to do it?? Over more than 10 years working at the intersection of climate and development I’ve seen this endlessly debated: governance, market, trade, supply chain, and community-based actions (to name a few) touted as the ‘game changer’.???

Pick a side, or pick a ‘best buy’ as one development finance organisation (rather inelegantly) once wrote.? There are trade-offs to be made, limited resources to be allocated, and humans are quick to try to rationalise a complicated world into neat categories – I get it!??

But the truth is: this is a false choice.? Forest loss is underpinned by such diverse, shape-shifting and pervasive drivers that we need all of the above working in concert, and much more besides.? We need public policies for public goods, enabling communities and enterprises to act for the long-term good of us all.? It can’t be ‘either/or’; it has to be ‘yes, yes and how do we go further faster?!’?

In Colombia, for example, where I worked with the government and local partners for many years, impressive legislative reforms, alongside programs of coca eradication and sustainable cattle ranching were a successful starting point.? But when Colombia reached its historic Peace Agreement in 2016, rather than simplifying things, it increased the movement of people across once impassable frontiers, into highly forested areas vacated by the FARC guerilla group.? So now we’re witnessing Colombia’s efforts to halt deforestation become more agile and adept in areas previously off limits to the state.?

And in Brazil, where I had the privilege to partner with the states of Mato Grosso and Acre, President Lula’s first term showed public policy measures could enable a whopping 70% reduction in deforestation.? As observed by one of the great advocates for government-led action on deforestation: world emissions were more than 1% lower as a result of Brazil’s achievement.? However, the international public and private finance that flowed to reward these accomplishments was not commensurate to the scale of the long-term challenge, and Brazil’s efforts remained vulnerable to Bolsonaro’s dismantling for short-term political gain.???

Ten years later, with a new Lula-led opportunity in the world’s biggest rainforest area, I see a great source of hope – and by no means the only one – that climate leading corporations are now alive to the opportunity to finance ambitious government-coordinated programs to halt forest loss and support sustainable development.? Today corporations, governments, local enterprises and communities have an unprecedented opportunity to combine forces.??

And this opportunity is called the jurisdictional approach – programs to tackle deforestation at scale across whole countries or states.? But what is it about this approach that is motivating corporations to scale up their financing commitments, even amidst a challenging year of criticism of voluntary carbon market projects??

• It’s official: 195 countries signed up to jurisdictional REDD+ (JREDD+) as the foremost mechanism for public and private financing for forests under the Paris Agreement.? Every dollar of funding that flows to the mechanism helps to make good on this international promise, to reward the progress that developing countries are making.??
• It’s comprehensive: JREDD+ requires governments and partners to systematically identify drivers of deforestation that act across large administrative areas, and to counteract these with a diverse array of policies, programmes and partnerships with local actors.?
• It’s uniting: done right, JREDD+ implementation is highly inclusive, combining the levers and resources of the state, with the priorities and know-how of local partners, enterprises and communities.??
• It’s high-integrity: working at the jurisdictional level can halt and reverse deforestation across whole landscapes and for the long term; whilst recognising, protecting and rewarding the unparalleled role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities as forest guardians.?

This potential for scale and integrity is why the LEAF Coalition, the public-private initiative that now occupies most of my time at Emergent, only purchases JREDD+ credits that meet the robust criteria of ART’s TREES Standard.??

And this is a choice that I believe is really paying off.? In this past year – despite the much-publicised carbon market headwinds – we’ve seen an unwavering commitment from companies and governments to LEAF.? That said, you won’t find any complacency here.? We still have a way to go, and we recognise that (paraphrasing the words of another great champion of action on deforestation:) JREDD+ has yet to receive and deploy the scale of public and private finance needed to qualify as ‘fully tested’.???

But the signs are that this is imminently set to change, and within the Coalition we’re doing everything we can to play our part and to ensure that JREDD+ delivers its promise and changes the lives of millions of local people for the better.???

As we approach potential first LEAF deals, we’re working harder than ever on how we can optimise and scale what we are doing.? We welcome feedback, ideas and cooperation from all communities, experts and partners.? But we are more convinced than ever that JREDD+ will help to tip the scale – and unite all actors for the long term – in favour of forests, forest-dependent people and of course the climate.?

Let us know if you would like to get on board, bringing your innovations and solutions, to help us all go further faster.?