Lessons from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation: advancing agriculture in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) has gained significant policy momentum as an international mechanism for global climate change mitigation. The mobilization of funding, technical activity and institutional engagement for REDD has been relatively quick and widespread. The policy and technical lessons learned over the evolution of REDD are not yet widely understood, nor have they been widely integrated into efforts aimed at enabling and incentivizing agricultural mitigation. Within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, there are opportunities to include agricultural mitigation through the ad hoc working groups and technical work programs. To create the policy space and operational feasibility necessary for an international mechanism for agricultural mitigation, parallel advancement is needed on developing a shared vision, tackling high-priority analysis, coordinating efforts among stakeholders and getting money to flow from donor governments, foundations and industry.