IIED comments on UK government discussion paper on forests and climate change

Public comments have been invited on government proposals to address deforestation and land use emissions in developing countries under the UK International Climate Fund (ICF), which is co-administered by DECC, DFID and DEFRA.

IIED welcomes this substantial new proposed initiative to develop interventions to achieve climate,biodiversity and poverty reduction objectives by tackling deforestation. The focus on working with government, civil society and, in particular through innovative mechanisms, the private sector has much to commend it. Meanwhile, expanding demand side measures to include forest-risk commodities makes good sense and plays to the UK's comparative advantage. IIED offers the following comments to highlight some key issues that we feel deserve greater attention in the proposed initiative.