USA

The United States is of the view that efforts to mitigate deforestation  should occur in the broader context of sustainable forest management and  sustainable development. While deforestation is a major source of emissions,  emissions also occur from land degradation and opportunities to increase  carbon storage on managed lands are consistent with broader sustainable  forest management objectives. The United States has supported increasing  the priority of conserving forests and reducing emissions from deforestation  in relevant existing bodies.

REDD+ activities should be planned within the context of a country’s  low-carbon mitigation strategy. Sub-national or national demonstration  activities should be adapted to national reference levels that are based on  historical data incorporating nationally-specific factors.

The US believes that private investment is the most sustainable source of  financing in the long term, but recognizes that in the short and medium  term there is a need for significant financial and technical assistance. In  this regard, the US supports the use of both market- and non-market based  mechanisms, with countries receiving non-market funding during the  readiness phase and moving to a market-based instrument once robust  monitoring, reporting and verification systems have been developed. To  ensure the viability of market instruments it will be extremely important  to build confidence in real, additional, verifiable and permanent emissions  reductions.