This report is intended as a document of publication to inform the result of the two-year multi-stakeholder process and to reflect the process has been carried out, the report is developed with the following structure: introduction, identification of relevant elements from existing instruments, identifying draft principles, criteria and indicators from existing instruments and conclusion. The principles, criteria and indicators system for providing information on REDD+ safeguards implementation (SIS-REDD+) and results of the work is presented as an annex of this report.

This independent regional knowledge management platform is committed to open and free information sharing. The mission is to provide easily accessible, up-to-date, objective and insightful information and analysis about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) and other forest carbon-related policies, players and issues for decision makers, managers and users of forest and land resources across Asia.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) started as a global initiative. More than 40 countries are developing national REDD+ strategies and policies, and hundreds of REDD+ projects have been initiated across the tropics.This book wants to inform these national and local processes, by asking some basic questions: How are participating countries going to reduce emissions and increase carbon stocks that they hope to be paid for through global mechanisms?

Green growth ideas, including low emission development strategies (LEDS), have become dominant in global narratives and have been translated into national discourses to varying degrees, for example in Vietnam or Indonesia; however, transitions to low-emission economies are far from reality, write the authors.

This Infobrief identifies low emission development strategies, the challenges faced by LEDS and REDD+, how REDD+ can contribute to LEDS, and the conditions that favour successful LEDS and REDD+.

This publication reports on WWF’s forest and climate work between 2010 and 2013 which sought to develop models for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) that secure scalable forest ecosystem management while engaging those communities that live in and depend on forests in way improve their livelihoods. The report concludes that although valuable, REDD+ is not an end in itself but one tool to conserve biodiversity, reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change and although critical cannot exist in isolation.