Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a predominantly mountainous country in Southeast Asia, land-locked by Myanmar, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand. It is made up of three agro-climatic zones: the northern mountainous region; the hilly and mountainous regions of the centre and south; and the plains of the Mekong River (Sophathilath, 2012). It is an extremely biodiverse country; contributing to the high degree of endemism found in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) as a whole (MAF, 2005; 2010). In 2011, the population was over 6.2 million (World Bank, 2013). It consists of 49 distinct ethnic groups and a further 200 ethnic subgroups (King & van de Walle, 2010). Natural resources are at the heart of the economy, with forestry, agriculture, hydropower and minerals comprising over half of the country’s total wealth. By 2020, Lao PDR aims to achieve annual economic growth of at least 8% and move out of the “least developed country” list (MPI, 2010). Between 2001 and 2010, the national economy experienced growth of 7.1% per year on average, attributable in part to hydropower and mining (World Bank, 2013). Despite this growth and overall poverty reduction, regional disparity means parts of the country, and the northern region in particular, continue to experience high levels of poverty (Moore et al. 2011). In 2010, forest cover was estimated at 9.5 million hectares; 40.29% of the total land area (DOF, 2011a). Although this is only slightly lower than the 2002 figure of 9.8 million hectares, which represents 41.5% of the total land area (MAF, 2005), national forest cover is reported to have declined dramatically between 1992 and 2002, at an average rate of 134,000 hectares per year (equivalent to 1.2 -1.3%). This decade also saw widespread deterioration in forest quality, with dense forest declining from 29% to 8.2% from 1992 to 2002, and open forest increasing from 16% to 24.5%. Despite these overall trends, several studies demonstrate high spatial variation in deforestation due to regional variation in soil type, elevation and socioeconomic factors (see: Moore et al. 2011). Nine activities have been identified as responsible for driving deforestation and forest degradation: natural and human-induced fires; timber extraction (commercial and illegal logging and for household consumption); shifting cultivation; agricultural expansion; forestry plantations; mining; hydropower; infrastructure development; and urban expansion (Mekong Maps, 2010). Of these, wood extraction and shifting cultivation are among the most important drivers of forest degradation, and agricultural expansion and industrial plantations of deforestation (ibid). Annual emissions from deforestation and forest degradation are estimated at around 51 million tonnes of CO2 (DOF, 2010). Lao PDR has developed a number of policies that address climate change and aim for the sustainable management of the forestry sector including through targets for increased national forest cover, such as the National Strategy on Climate Change and the Forestry Strategy to the Year 2020. REDD+ has been identified as a key mechanism to increase the national forest area. Lao PDR has been participating in international REDD+ negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to push for an agreement on REDD+ since 2007. It is engaged in several multilateral negotiating blocks, including the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), G-77 and China, and the UNFCCC’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) (DOF, 2011b). The Government supports a flexible yet internationally binding agreement for REDD+ (DOF, 2011b). It aims to adopt fund-based mechanisms in the short-term, allowing for participation in the voluntary carbon market (DOF, 2010). However, it intends to use compliance markets in the longer term once international protocols have been agreed (ibid). Lao PDR is being supported in its preparations for REDD+ implementation by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), and most recently the UN-REDD Programme (since 2012). It was one of the first 14 countries to become a REDD+ country participant under the FCPF in July 2008 and its REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) grant was requested and signed in October 2009. The R-PP was subsequently developed and a final version accepted by the FCPF Secretariat in late 2011. The R-PP funding was closed in March 2013 and the REDD Readiness grant is expected to be signed in mid-2013 (FCPF, 2013). Lao PDR was selected as a pilot country by the FIP in June 2010 and its FIP investment plan was approved by the FIP sub-committee in October 2011. As well as these broader programmes, various other bilateral and multilateral donor initiatives are providing substantial financial and technical support for the development of REDD+ in Lao PDR. There are also numerous subnational activities, including REDD+ feasibility studies and pilot projects.