Huh? REDD+ what?

"REDD plus what?"  A familiar question now that I have started working on this project and preparing to facilitate knowledge sharing from Guyana.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is a set of steps designed to use market and financial incentives in order to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation. Its objective is to reduce greenhouse gases.

 I found this interesting intro video which is a start:

To make things easier...I will be focused on the Guiana shield and specifically Guyana.

The Guiana Shield region contains the largest complex of uninterrupted and intact primary tropical rainforest on earth. It is vital in the global battle against climate change due to its huge storage of carbon dioxide and capacity to absorb CO2. The region contains 10-15% of the world’s fresh water reserves and an extremely rich diversity of plants and animals, most of which are unique to this region.

However, despite the wealth of natural resources in the region, the poverty level remains high. High levels of external debt and weak institutional capacity exert an increasing pressure on governments and local populations to choose economic activities which are beneficial on the short term, but that are often unsustainable, damaging the unique character of the eco-region.

This has led to a lack of land use planning, as well as the production of illicit drugs, illegal mining and logging, ill-planned infrastructure projects, and expansion of the agricultural frontier. All of which are putting an increasing pressure on the ecosystems of this unique eco-region.