New Delhi: More than 50 representatives from the government and civil society of seven countries in the South Asia region met today in New Delhi for discussions on successfully implementing REDD+ in the region by reversing forest loss and degradation.  

REDD+ or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation is an international mechanism enshrined in the Paris Agreement, adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) held in 2015. At COP22, organized in Marrakech last year, world leaders held further negotiations regarding translating commitments into action in the forestry sector.

Inaugurated by Mr. Ajay Narayan Jha, Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the international conference was organized by the Forest-PLUS Program, a five-year bilateral initiative between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and MoEFCC. The event brought together key policymakers, experts and donors from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, and Nepal.

An estimated 1.6 billion people — or about one-fifth of the global population — derive direct and indirect benefits from forests. In India alone in the South Asia region, 300 million depend on forests for their livelihood and income. The South Asia region thus plays a key role in the success of the REDD+ mechanism.  

Speaking at the conference, Mark White, newly appointed Mission Director of USAID/India, added: “Degradation of existing forests is a matter of concern across South Asia. In addition to impacting lives of the forest-dependent communities, deforestation and degradation also has a bearing on the carbon sequestration capacity of the forests. By organizing this conference and sharing the forest management tools, techniques and methodologies developed by the joint U.S.-India Forest-PLUS program, we hope other countries will be able to take full advantage of these to address issues and barriers around REDD+ implementation.”

The Forest-PLUS program is working in India to improve the management of forested landscapes, particularly in ways that help forest-dependent communities and strengthen REDD+ implementation. The conference covered multiple plenary sessions to share learnings on various aspects of REDD+ implementation including design, monitoring and reporting systems, financing, communication and partnerships.