Second, a UNFCCC REDD+ mechanism should fund eligible activities on the basis of results achieved in reducing or
avoiding carbon emissions at a national scale (UNFCCC COP 2011, para. 73). While it was initially envisaged that the concept of results-based finance for REDD+ would be operationalized by setting up a multi-level system of payments for ecosystem services (PES), the REDD+ mechanism as designed within the UNFCCC embraces a much larger notion of “PES-like” performance-based payments made at a national scale rather than the direct