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Zanzibar takes part in the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program, which will pay poor tropical countries to protect their forest as a way of reducing carbon emissions and curbing climate change.

In Africa REDD started as a pilot project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, and Zambia, and interest in UN-REDD Programme has grown rapidly. The Programme now has 29 partner countries. Most of these national programmes are in the implementation phase, indicating a relatively rapid pace from development to implementation of programmed activities.

In Zanzibar, to combat deforestation, CARE International, the Department of Commerical Crops, Fruits and Forestry (DCCFF), and local NGOs are now receiving funding for a REDD pilot project. Funded by the Government of Norway, this pilot project has a value of almost NOK 40 million (US$ 7.2 million), which was made available for a four-year period that started in 2010. It has as its aim not only to decrease deforestation, but also to make sure local people benefit from these activities, through a pro-poor, gender-sensitive approach.