REDD+

Natural ecosystems, such as forests, soils, and wetlands, play an essential role as carbon sinks, storing large amounts of CO₂ and contributing to climate change mitigation. However, practices such as deforestation, land-use change, and unsustainable exploitation release this carbon into the atmosphere, intensifying global warming.

In this context, the REDD+ mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) was developed by the international community to create financial incentives for forest conservation in developing countries, contributing to emissions reductions and biodiversity protection.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the land use, agriculture, and forestry sector accounts for approximately 22% of global emissions, underscoring the importance of nature-based solutions.

The International Climate Initiative (IKI) operates in this area by promoting synergies between mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity conservation, with a focus on implementing partner countries’ NDCs.

Its work is structured around four main areas:

• Strengthening nature-based solutions: integration of climate, adaptation, and biodiversity;
• Combating deforestation: support for policies, deforestation-free supply chains, and the implementation of REDD+;
• Forest landscape restoration: recovery of degraded ecosystems, aligned with initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration;
• Peatland protection: conservation and restoration of ecosystems with high carbon storage potential.
  
  

This approach reinforces the role of ecosystems in climate action, reconciling emissions reductions, environmental conservation, and sustainable development.