Since 2008, Norway has worked with committed forest countries, multilateral organisations, civil society, indigenous peoples and the private sector, in order to help save tropical forests while also improving the livelihoods of those who life off, in, and near the forests. Tropical forests are among our most ancient ecosystems. Indispensable to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. Th
e habitat of half to one third of the world’s terrestrial plants, animals and insects. Crucial for global, regional and local water supply. An enormous carbon sink, which can provide one third of the climate change solution over the next 15 years. Deforestation of tropical forests accounts for approximately 11 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The drivers of deforestation are many and vary among countries and regions but there is one common denominator: it is currently more profitable, at least in the short term, to convert a forest to other uses than to leave it as a natural ecosystem. At the same time, we are becoming increasingly aware of the enormous value of natural ecosystems for our economy and welfare. Still, deforestation continues. We are facing a gigantic market failure. Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) aims at supporting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+). Reducing such emissions could deliver about a third of the climate change mitigation the world needs to stay on a two degrees warming pathway towards 2030. NICFI has so far disbursed almost 17 billion NOK to REDD+ (by end of 2015), worldwide.
