IYF 2011: South-South exchange on community forestry and REDD+

Sustainable Development Reserve in Juma, Municipality of Novo Aripuanã, where FAS is developing a program of support of Bolsa Floresta (Photographer Tanea Rodrigues/FAS)

March 4 - A 10-day South-South Exchange on community forestry and REDD+ recently took place in Brazil with participants from six African countries.

The exchange aimed to support countries to better understand the role that community forestry can play in their national REDD+ strategies. The activity brought together participants from Africa (Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Madagascar and the Republic of Congo) to exchange experiences on “Community Forestry and REDD+” with various Brazilian counterparts, including federal and state governments, the private sector, civil society and indigenous people’s organizations.

The event is one of the several activities being implemented under this GEF/World Bank initiative. Financed by the GEF, and implemented by the World Bank, this project is contributing to building increased absorptive capacities in non-Annex I countries on REDD+ and its role in the wider agenda of sustainable forest management (SFM).

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By enabling these countries to engage in the new financing streams to be expected through REDD, there is an indirect contribution to the conservation and sustainable use of forest ecosystems, including non-timber forest products (NTFP). In addition, there will be an incentive for country governments to reengage in land use planning activities that will avoid conflictive land use decisions and hence jeopardize the ability to access sustainable financing for natural resources management, including SFM. The following outcomes are envisaged as a result of the project:

1. Non-Annex I countries submit National Inventory Reports including LULUCF to the UNFCCC Secretariat, following IPCC Good Practice Guidance.
2. Non-Annex I countries are able to detect and measure changes in forest land cover, including through remote sensing.
3. Non-Annex I countries are able to detect and measure changes in forest carbon pools.
4. The challenges of REDD are seen in a broader development context.
5. Expertise and experinece is built around developemnt of national reference scenarios so as to increase confidence in the mesthods used for REDD.
6. Non-Annex I countires have a sound framework for addressing REDD and increased understanding of monitoring requirements, that build on other non-Annex I countires’ experiences, knowledge and technology.
7. Greater awareness about the role of REDD in producing multiple benefits in forest ecosystems, including climate change mitigation.
    

South-South cooperation in knowledge and technology transfer is one of the key components of the project, through which experts from a non-Annex I country with rich expertise in scientific and other best practices share their experiences with experts from other non-Annex I countries, and train them on how to implement these practices.

The above-mentioned 10-day South-South Exchange on community forestry and REDD+ is one of the examples of such knowledge sharing. The event was organized by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), with the help of the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), and the Office National des Forêts International (ONFI).
 

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Title: Enhancing Institutional Capacities on REDD Issues for Sustainable Forest
Project Documents: GEF PMIS # 3818
Implementing Agency: World Bank
Project duration: 2009-2011
GEF grant amount: $ 1,000.000
Co-financing amount: $1,811,542
Contact person: Benoit Bosquet, lead Carbon Finance Specialist, EMAIL: bbosquet@worldbank.org

The event was organized by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), with the help of the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), the Office National des Forêts International (ONFI) and a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Interview with André Aquino, Carbon Finance Specialist at the World Bank based in Kinshasa, who led the delegation:

• What are the key objectives of the South-South Exchange on REDD+ that was held in Brazil?
  The main goal of the delegation was to learn from Brazil’s experience in community forestry and its link to the REDD+ agenda. To do this, the group of government and civil society representatives from six African countries visited several sites in the Amazon.

   

• What are the benefits to the delegates visiting from Africa?
  Brazil has many relevant experiences to share with its African counterparts. For example, the Amazon Fund, managed by BNDES (the Brazilian Development Bank), is currently the largest national REDD initiative in the world. It has created an innovative model for managing and disbursing funds for activities that contribute to the objective of REDD.

  Also, Brazilian civil society has just gone through a process of establishing national environment and social safeguards for REDD initiatives in the country, which will contribute to the preparation of a national REDD strategy for Brazil. In local communities, participants have had the opportunity to experience a program of payment for ecosystem services (a PES scheme) called Bolsa Floresta which, through payments, rewards households and communities that support forest conservation.
   

• Did the interaction facilitate knowledge-sharing?
  Participants were able to learn from what Brazil has achieved so far. They were particularly impressed by the transparent and independent structure of the REDD fund management, developed by the Amazon Fund. It was great to see delegates experience firsthand how communities are benefiting from REDD revenue flows and how this is impacting their daily life. For example, they are funding health facilities and schools, including the use of satellites for distance learning. The activities also allowed participants to network and open up channels of communication for future cooperation, not only between the African and Brazilian delegates, but also among the African delegates themselves.
   
• What has been the main achievement of the initiative?
  It is fascinating to see how this event allowed representatives of countries that make up the second largest forested area in the world (the Congo Basin) to learn from the experiences of the largest forested area in the world (the Amazon). The purpose of the initiative was to support these countries in their effort to ‘get ready for REDD+’ and we think that this has been achieved. It builds on the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility’s continued support for knowledge-sharing and capacity building for REDD+ in developing countries.
   
• What are the next steps?
  Our participants are now highly motivated to go back home, share their new knowledge with their colleagues and continue their preparation of national REDD+ strategies. However, as you know, only six countries could participate in this trip and so one of our objectives has been to document the learning that went on here and put that into a Guidebook on Community Forestry and REDD+, which we will use to disseminate this knowledge. Please keep an eye out for it on the FCPF website.

Related Resources 

• For more infromation on the project
• Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF): www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/fcp/
• Carbon finance activities of the World Bank: www.carbonfinance.org
• Sustainable development: www.worldbank.org/sustainabledevelopment

REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, forest carbon stock conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. It is a climate change mitigation mechanism that seeks to provide positive incentives for tropical forested countries to reduce deforestation and forest degradation.

As part of the GEF's support to the International Year of Forest, every month we are publishing a story about a successful GEF project that is promoting sustainable forest management, and having positive impacts on forests, climate, biodiversity and local livelihoods.