The REDD direction: the potential for reduced forest carbon emissions, biodiversity protection and enhanced development: a desk study with special focus on Tanzania and Uganda

This paper examines whether reduced emissions from forests – from deforestation and forest degradation (the REDD project) - should be included in a post-Kyoto agreement . It focuses on how REDD could be instituted at the national level, and sheds light on specific challenges for two African countries – Tanzania and Uganda.

The paper demonstrates that REDD would require an international agreement concerning its role and format and an international governance structure to distribute the resources involved. It would also need national governance structures in countries where REDD activities are supposed to take place to secure that measures are instituted on the ground.

The paper concludes that:

• REDD may offer a lot of opportunities and be an important part of a successful climate regime
• the fundamental challenge is that it is a northern initiative to be implemented in the South
• a fund based system with a programme orientation is preferable
• it is necessary to include a series of instruments other than market trades.

Furthermore, the paper identifies a range of recommendations for Uganda and Tanzania in implementing a national REDD strategy to mitigate climate change:

• the government should lead the way in forest protection
• REDD funding should focus on more socially legitimate strategies to reduce deforestation in the permanent forest estate
• investment is needed in collaborative mechanisms under which local communities might access resources
• REDD could employ payment mechanisms to facilitate degraded forest restoration in the permanent forest estate
• addressing local community rights to the lands placed under plantations is of immense importance
• both fuel wood extraction and agriculture expansions with multiple measures should be addressed
• there should be enhanced focus on the livestock sector
  
• facilitating on-farm afforestation is advised.