Dancing like a toddler? The Green Climate Fund and REDD+ international rule‐making

Abstract

REDD+ is a mechanism developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce deforestation and associated greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. The UNFCCC has envisaged the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to play a key role in coordinating and supporting REDD+. With the GCF's foundations in place, this article reviews the GCF's role as a rule‐maker for REDD+. The analysis of GCF policies and their relationship with guidance from the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) reveals that the Fund has complemented, adjusted and further developed COP guidance with considerable autonomy. This is surprising in the light of the Fund's strong relationship with the UNFCCC, coupled with the fact that the same UNFCCC country parties are represented in the GCF's main decision‐making body. Such self‐directed regulatory activity may evince the GCF's intention to leave a long‐lasting impact in the fragmented financing landscape for REDD+ implementation.

European Green Transition Implications on Africa’s Livestock Sector Development and Resilience to Climate Change

“…Research by Carnegie University shows that if land use changes and degradation across Africa grows at the same pace as it stands today, there is a higher likelihood that by 2050, all the utilisable agricultural lands will have been degraded [65,66]. This creates an area of cooperation between Africa and the EU to promote combating agroecological challenges while addressing the effects of low indirect land use practices [65,66].…”

“…Beyond the continent's scope, the SDGs highly influence the sector. Over 50 per cent of the 17 SDG goals are directly linked to the sector [14,64,65,92]. The strong relationship between the industry and the SDGs has seen a strong presence of many international Development organisations execute their mandate in Africa concerning livestock policy.…”

“…Despite the funding being challenged by the energy sector, there exists little information on the true cost associated with degradation and environmental exploitation, degradation and land-use change dues to a greener transition. Therefore, there is a need for an appropriate governance framework and enabling the regulatory environment to prioritise agricultural sector funding for a green transition [64,65].…”

How politics shapes the outcomes of forest carbon finance

“…These reforms likely need to be accompanied by efforts to build countervailing power among forest-dependent people that allow them to resist intrusions on their land and obtain institutional recognition of their land management rights [40,93,99,100]. There is some evidence that some forest carbon funders recognize these opportunities [101].…”

Ending slavery by decarbonisation? Exploring the nexus of modern slavery, deforestation, and climate change action via REDD+

“…Socioeconomic inequality between, and among, communities has also been reported as a negative consequence of REDD+ [71]. Others suggest the architecture of REDD+ is 'fragmented', 'patchy' and 'uncoordinated' [67,72,73], launching projects without clear funding in place.…”