The land-use sector within the post-2020 climate regime

The land-use sector serves key environmental and social functions and supports the livelihoods of around a half of the world’s population. Despite its importance, however, the climate regime fails to formulate a coherent vision or set of incentives for mitigation and adaptation from the sector. The negotiation of a future climate treaty that will take effect in 2020 presents a key opportunity to improve the current system and create an integrated accounting and incentive framework for adaptation and mitigation strategies across all land-uses. This report - conducted by Climate Focus together with UNIQUE forestry and land use - analyses the current status of the land use sector under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, and formulates options for how various incentives and systems could be harmonized under a future climate treaty.