Dear Readers,

In a few short weeks, the UN-REDD Programme will host its eighth Policy Board meeting in Asuncion, Paraguay on 25-26 March. These meetings are critically important as they provide a forum for the full range of UN-REDD Programme stakeholders to participate in the decisions that shape the future direction of the Programme.

At this meeting, we look forward to receiving UN-REDD National Programme documents and funding requests from Republic of Congo and Sri Lanka. Both of these countries have been active UN-REDD Programme partner countries since they joined two years ago, and have done significant groundwork and stakeholder outreach to prepare their UN-REDD National Programmes.

The Policy Board will also receive an update on the Programme's initial work, in collaboration with the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), to design and undertake a country needs assessment that will help to inform how the Programme can best deliver support to countries moving forward. The Board will discuss strategic issues such how the UN-REDD Programme can engage with the Green Climate Fund established at COP17 in December 2011. The Board will also hear progress updates on the Programme's work in the areas of monitoring and information for REDD+, Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), as well as the Programme's draft Social and Environmental Principles and Criteria.

Once again, the UN-REDD Programme is pleased to be coordinating with FCPF in holding back-to-back governing meetings (FCPF's Participants Committee meeting is happening in Asuncion 28-30 March), in order to streamline travel arrangements for participants attending both meetings. In addition, the two iniatives will hold a joint meeting of the two governing bodies on 27 March, to discuss a range of common issues and provide partner countries with the opportunity to highlight their progress and exchange lessons learned.

As always, we look forward to exchanging with country representatives as well as the diverse stakeholders, including civil society and Indigenous Peoples, who will participate in our upcoming Policy Board meeting. To those of you joining us in Asuncion in a few weeks, we wish you safe travels and we look forward to seeing you soon. Policy Board documentation will be available on the UN-REDD Programme website and workspace as of 12 March.

Yemi Katerere
Head of the UN-REDD Programme Secretariat