25 December 2011, UN-REDD news- The UN-REDD Programme’s Policy Board agreed in a recent inter-sessional decision to welcome Benin, Cameroon, Chile,Ghana, Myanmar, South Sudan and Suriname as partners of the Programme and official observers to the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board. These countries join the Programme’s 35 other partner countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America, and the Caribbean (see list below).

"With these seven new partner countries, the UN-REDD Programme's community of practice is now 42-countries strong. Together, these partner countries possess an incredible wealth of experience in REDD+ readiness which the Programme will continue to harness to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning by doing," said Dr. Yemi Katerere, Head of the UN-REDD Programme Secretariat.

New partner countries can benefit from receiving targeted support from the UN-REDD Global Programme and knowledge sharing, which is facilitated by the UN-REDD Programme’s online community of practice (www.unredd.net). Partner countries will also have observer status at UN-REDD Programme Policy Board meetings, and may be invited to submit a request to receive funding for a National Programme in the future, if selected through a set of criteria to prioritize funding for new countries approved by the Policy Board.

To date, 14 UN-REDD Programme partner countries have presented National Programmes to the Policy Board and have been allocated a total of US$59.3 million in funding. The UN-REDD Programme continues to pursue additional funding options that will enable the Programme to expand its financial support on REDD+ to more partner countries in the future.