REDD Learning Network

Helping decision makers, advisers, and the media stay informed about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degredation (REDD)

A quickly evolving REDD+ is driving an overload of information, analysis, and opinions. Local people's interests can all too easily lost in the debate. The REDD Learning Network keeps key stakeholders informed on latest REDD+ issues, focusing on those most relevant to indigenous people and local communities. The Network contributes to the development of national REDD+ schemes that help reduce poverty and strengthen the rights of local people in the Asia-Pacific region.

RECOFTC leads the REDD Learning Network in eight countries as part of our work under the Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade (RAFT) program, funded by USAID.

Major Activities

Decoding REDD Workshop Series

During 2009 and 2010, the Decoding REDD Workshop Series explored the current status of REDD+ issues and identified knowledge gaps and needs for capacity building. The events brought together more than 60 influential advisors and decision makers, including delegates from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), senior forestry officials, and leading civil society representatives. Participants have taken lessons from the series into national REDD-planning processes and international UNFCCC negotiations. Briefs from the five workshops have been translated and widely distributed to educate thousands of national stakeholders.

Media Engagement

Beginning in September 2010, the REDD Learning Network partnered with Internews' Earth Journalism Network to help Asia-Pacific journalists better understand REDD+ and how it relates to forest-dependant people. At the United Nations climate talks in Tianjin, China, the Network held a press conference sharing and building on lessons from the workshop series. Three media briefs helped explain thre relation of forests, people, and climate change; the logistics of REDD+; and conflict around carbon trading. The briefs were also central to a two-day journalism training event on responsible media coverage of REDD+ that brought 12 select journalists from ten countries to Bangkok.