'Painting the forest REDD?': prospects for mitigating climate change through reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation

This paper aims to introduce the role of forests in mitigating climate change and summarise some of the key issues and research covered in Palmer and Engel (2009). Section 2 presents the climate change problem, the role of forests and the policy debate so far. Section 3 focuses on research to assess the cost-effectiveness of avoided deforestation as a strategy to mitigate climate change, while section 4 examines the barriers to the adoption of such a strategy, primarily those related to policy and institutions. Section 5 looks at policy design, with a focus on overcoming additionality and leakage constraints and maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of potential avoided deforestation schemes. The main findings are analysed alongside some further issues for discussion in section 6. It should be noted upfront, however, that providing a full review of related literature is beyond the scope of this paper4. Excellent studies are constantly adding to the existing body of knowledge relevant for REDD policy design. Section 7 concludes by addressing some of the key, remaining open questions along with suggestions for future research.