This session was moderated by Enrique Provencio, Interdisciplinary Center for Biodiversity and Environment (CIBA). Participants then discussed the following themes: policy options for balancing development challenges, forest conservation and poverty alleviation in the context of REDD+; governance challenges at various scales associated with addressing drivers of deforestation; and policies needed for SFM to fulfill its promise and combine development with long-term emission reductions.

This session was moderated by Keith Anderson, Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. Presentations reviewed REDD+ -related activities of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, the UN-REDD Programme, and the Forest Investment. Participants were asked to discuss the following: national rules for participation in REDD+ that ensure transparent and accountable financial mechanisms; benefit distribution and the possibility of criteria for distribution; processes enabling governments to streamline REDD+ demonstration projects and ensuring that relevant actors contribute to their design; lessons learned from existing intergovernmental fiscal transfer mechanisms that can be applied to guiding efficient REDD+ benefit-sharing mechanisms; and additional fiscal policy reforms needed to ensure REDD+ financing is effective and not subject to perverse incentives.