blue moon fund

REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, is a carbon finance and conservation tool being developed around the world to protect forests while mitigating climate change. It is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation account for fifteen to twenty percent of all annual emissions. This puts forest destruction ahead of the transportation sector in terms of total emissions. REDD uses carbon finance and payments for ecological services as incentives and benefits to local communities that prioritize conservation of forest resources.

blue moon fund has been an early supporter of the development of REDD standards, engaging governments and NGOs to deliver REDD benefits to local communities and enact corresponding policies that support meaningful conservation. Beyond the development of REDD standards and practices, blue moon fund has supported a number of feasibility studies across our program geographies. REDD project locations include Cambodia, Laos, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and Panama. Our focus has been on biodiversity rich areas within nations that have promising political and market support for carbon finance. blue moon fund has targeted REDD as a component of the larger Payment for Ecological Services umbrella of carbon and conservation finance. REDD has particular potential to benefit communities near project sites, as it is terrestrially based, and many indigenous communities have traditionally managed forest resources.

blue moon fund has worked to help develop REDD beyond a simple payment for ecological services model. Our projects have explored the fair and equitable distribution of carbon finance profits to local communities. Rather than have carbon finance benefit traders and intermediaries, such as it has in the CDM and voluntary carbon market, blue moon has worked to support organizations that are concerned with the management aspects of REDD. We encourage international actors and local conservation institutions to develop and invest in local transparent management institutions.  Integration of conservation incentive agreements can also ensure that REDD profits will benefit local communities while also engaging them to participate in conservation work. Ultimately, these incentives will ensure that local peoples are the core of conservation forces, not only benefiting or working on conservation projects but leading them.

Our focus on the management and local benefit aspects of REDD has led blue moon fund to support REDD+, the “+” standing for social and ecological benefits for local communities and expansion of forest cover. To this end, blue moon fund has supported the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards (CCB Standards), developed by the CCB Alliance (a network of environmental and development NGOs). The CCB Standards aimed to evaluate land-based climate change mitigation projects and set social/community standards for their implementation.

REDD and REDD+ are promising standards and strategies that as of yet have not been adopted fully by the global climate change regime. If the transaction costs of carbon credits can be reduced while social benefits can be ensured for local peoples, REDD will be a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. The world’s forests represent significant stores of biodiversity and carbon, as well as cultural and spiritual touchstones for a number of communities. REDD is a tool that blue moon fund hopes will develop further to protect these valuable resources.