Written by Lisa Westholm, Sabine Henders, Madelene Ostwald and Eskil Mattsson.

In terms of international climate policy, the single most important issue being discussed (see, for example, FCCC/SBSTA/2008) is reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). In essence, REDD involves compensating forest nations or owners for not cutting down carbon-rich forests, thus avoiding carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The international community has taken a great interest in preparing developing countries for hosting REDD projects. Programs and facilities such as the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and UN-REDD program fund a number of regional and bilateral initiatives to generate flows of financial resources from industrial countries to tropical countries and gain experiences that can feed into international climate negotiations. The success of these initiatives will depend on how well they manage to make efficient use of limited resources. Their success is also likely to vary depending on the initial preparedness of the REDD host country.

For this article, a number of pilot REDD initiatives, as well as four potential REDD countries (Bolivia, Cameroon, Costa Rica and Sri Lanka), were studied to analyze their readiness for REDD from the point of view of baseline establishment and sustainable development.

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