Overseas Development Institute's REDD Net Programme

British's Overseas Development Institute just launched REDD Net programme on July 2009. REDD Net aims to build capacity of southern civil society to champion the interests of the poor in the area of REDD (‘Reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation'). It will build this capacity through the development of a REDD practitioner network, facilitating the two-way transfer of knowledge within the practitioner community through the sharing of field experiences and pilot activities, and the development of tools to help shape REDD policies and projects on a global scale.

REDD Net responds to three overarching challenges in the current REDD debate:

Demand for information, because REDD is a very knowledge-intensive field with expertise located far from forest dependent communities.

REDD ‘Triple Plus' , because policy development has so far focused on scientific and technical matters, with less attention given to social and equity issues; given the large size of the financial flows to which REDD could lead, it is important that policy development respects and supports internationally agreed social development goals.

Pace of Change, because REDD policy and pilot developments are particularly fast-paced, increasing the necessity for, and urgency of, initiatives that enable southern civil to keep ahead of the debate and ensure that the needs of the poor are fully taken into account.

REDD Net is supported by the Norwegian Forest Initiative.

More info: http://www.odi.org.uk/projects/details.asp?id=1212&title=redd-net-programme

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