In December 2008 the Government of Norway commissioned Meridian Institute, a nonprofit NGO that provides neutral facilitation on critical policy issues (www.merid.org), to facilitate the assessment of a set of proposed options for critical elements of the REDD+ component of a Copenhagen UNFCCC agreement. This request led to a consultative and analytical process whose results were summarized in the REDD-Options Assessment Report, which was released in April 2009 and proved helpful to UNFCCC negotiators as well as other stakeholders.

While the REDD-OAR brought the various relevant issues of a REDD+ agreement together, it was only able to include a brief discussion of one of the potentially most challenging aspects of a REDD+ agreement: the institutional arrangements supporting the international distribution and disbursement of REDD+ funds. To date there has been comparatively little discussion of this issue. Most REDD+ proposals focus on resource mobilization or the methodological specifications of a mechanism without going into the specifications on how such financing should be administered.

In July 2009, the Government of Norway sponsored Meridian’s follow-up assessment of concrete options for international institutional arrangements supporting a REDD+ agreement in Copenhagen and beyond in the REDD+ Institutional Options Assessment. Addressing this gap, Meridian’s assessment focused on the institutional arrangements needed to administer, allocate, disburse, and monitor international REDD+ financing.

The REDD+ IOA authors include:

Charlotte Streck (Coordinating Author)
Director
Climate Focus

Luis Gomez-Echeverri
Global Energy Assessment
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Pablo Gutman
Director, Environmental Economics
World Wildlife Fund

Cyril Loisel
Energy and Climate Program Coordinator
Institut de développement durable et des relations internationales (Iddri)
& Advisor, ONF International

Jacob Werksman
Program Director, Institutions and Governance Program
World Resources Institute

Please contact Michael Lesnick of Meridian Institute (mlesnick@merid.org) or Charlotte Streck, REDD+ IOA coordinating author (C.Streck@climatefocus.com), with any questions.

Click here to download a copy of the REDD+ Institutional Options Assessment.

The correct citation for this report is:
Meridian Institute. 2009. “REDD+ Institutional Options Assessment. Developing an Efficient, Effective, and Equitable Institutional Framework for REDD+ under the UNFCCC.” Prepared by Charlotte Streck, Luis Gomez-Echeverri, Pablo Gutman, Cyril Loisel, and Jacob Werksman. Available at: http://www.REDD-OAR.org.