Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Acknowledging the importance of the role of forests in slowing down climate change to controllable levels, the United Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in developing countries was launched in 2008. The World Bank also initiated the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and Forest Investment Program (FIP) in 2008 in order to curb deforestation and forest degradation. Through joint governance sessions, joint meetings, and knowledge exchange, the two institutions have endeavored to help participating developing countries set up a measurement, reporting and verification system (MRV) that reliably measures changes in the carbon stock of their forests. With the total granted funding of US$865,690,675 and actual disbursement of US$311,099,505 from the three programs so far, many of the participating countries passed the preparation phase and are currently in the implementation phase. Almost a decade has passed since the onset of these programs. However, little research has quantified the accomplishments and adverse impacts of the programs. This paper aims to quantitatively evaluate the impact of these programs’ financial support on the prevention of deforestation and forest degradation in project target areas.

In detail, the author identifies 1) the domestic and international factors that influence a developing country’s decision to join the programs, 2) the magnitude of impacts of financial support from the programs on local deforestation and forest degradation, and 3) the necessary domestic conditions for the international REDD to succeed in a developing country.