TFG will launch the US REDD Finance Tracking Database

December 5, 2011 at COP 17

www.usreddfinance.org

December 1, 2011
The Tropical Forest Group (TFG) has archived and transcribed all instances where US government agencies have stated either financial flows for sustainable tropical forestry or quantitative forest impacts (such as hectares protected, trees planted, kilometers of firebreaks, etc). The goals of the database are to improve transparency around US government REDD+ finance and to monitor how well the US is meeting its fast start finance REDD+ pledge of $1 billion.
TFG has compiled the information into a searchable online database. TFG has launched Phase 1 of the US REDD Finance Database (www.usreddfinance.org) at COP 17 in Durban.
The US REDD Finance Database currently records 800+ discrete instances where US agencies state financial flows to countries or quantitative impacts on forests. The US REDD Finance Database website includes a library of all the data’s source documents. The database compiles information from US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Tropical Forest Conservation Act annual reports, the US State Department fact sheets on Fast Start Finance, and data submitted by the US government to the REDD+ Partnership’s Database.
Key elements of the US REDD Finance Database are as follows:

• Every reported financial flow or forest impact is linked to the source document from where the data came
• The fiscal year of the financial flow or forest impact is indicated where possible
• Every stated financial contribution denotes which agency reported the finance and which agency was responsible for the finance
• Linkages between finance and impacts are indicated where possible
• Subgrants underneath larger grants are noted where possible
• All bilateral REDD+ finance is listed either as pledged, deposited (to a country), approved (for a specific program), disbursed, or unknown
• Locations within countries of stated impacts or finance are provided where available
• Grantees or specific programs are indicated where possible