National REDD+ strategies define a set of policies and programs to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, while enhancing carbon uptake from other REDD+ activities.

They define direct and indirect drivers of deforestation, baselines and forest monitoring systems, reference emissions levels, and social and environmental safeguards, among others. They have become a catalyst to help countries analyze and reform wider forestry, land tenure and sustainable development policies.

REDD+ strategies have also helped to catalyze the engagement of a wider range of stakeholder groups in forest and land management, including indigenous peoples, women and other forest-dependent communities. This has given many of these groups more access and rights to forestry and land use decision making.

National REDD+ strategies are one of the key outputs of the REDD+ readiness phase (phase 1) and guide the implementation of REDD+ implementation and subsequent results-based payments (phases 2 and 3). As countries craft different kinds of strategies to suit their unique contexts, a common principle underlies these various approaches—namely that REDD+ must result in real, measurable and long-term benefits related to the mitigation of climate change and align with national development strategies.