According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), deforestation and forest degradation contributes with 17, 4 % of the global climate gas emissions. An international system, called REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation), was established during the climate negotiations in Cancún 2010. It is now being discussed internationally how REDD can be carried out while simultaneously taking biodiversity, the rights of local and native communities and good governance into account, so called REDD + actions. India is currently not a receiver of REDD + funds. India has anyhow shown great effort to protect its forest through its national “Green India Mission” which is one of eight actions to be carried out as a part of the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). In addition, a separate cell has been established in the Ministry of Forest and Environment, which works only with REDD and REDD + issues. Norway is an important donor of REDD + funding, and has pledged 3 billion Norwegian kroner through the Norwegian forest initiative.
The goal of the Norwegian-Indian policy dialogue was to highlight different aspects of REDD and REDD + and to discuss how Indian politics on the topic can be concretized. The seminar was opened by ambassador Ollestad and the joint secretary B.M.S. Rathore in MoEF. Leading researchers from Norway and India participated in the discussion, such as Arild Vatn og Bishal Situala from UMB og Dr. Sharachchandra Lele og Dr. Vikram Dayala. “Norway, with its forest initiative, wishes to improve the prospects of the inclusion of a REDD + mechanism in a post-2012 climate regime, including making verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while conserving natural forests,” ambassador Ollestad said in her opening speech.
Both the challenges and opportunities regarding REDD + were discussed. Whether it is necessary for India to get engaged in REDD + at all, was asked by Dr. Lele, as India itself could need its forest to meet their own climate requirements when a new climate agreement gets signed. The opportunities that more money from international funds could bring to national forest conservation were also elaborated upon by the participants. The participants appreciated having a forum where REDD + issues could be discussed openly and critically. “As we put together the nuts and bolts on what’s going to be this country’s policy on REDD +, this is obviously going to benefit from what happens in forums like this,” said joint secretary Mr. Shri B M Rathore.
The Policy dialogue ended up being an important contribution to the ongoing discussion regarding how REDD + should be implemented in India.