With support from the UN-REDD Programme, Cambodia has launched a project to develop a National Forest Inventory for REDD+.

Cambodia's new National Forest Inventory (NFI) project, launched in September, is based on an agreement between MAFF and the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), signed in April of this year.  It is designed to provide technical support and information to the Royal Government of Cambodia, and other forest sector stakeholders, for the development of the policies and measures necessary for the NFI and to develop the emission factors that are required for reporting on Cambodia’s future national REDD+ programme.

The NFI project will build on existing initiatives and the substantial experience the country has gained in recent years in forest monitoring and inventories. The project launch brought together participants from the government and UN agencies, international and national NGOs and civil society to share these experiences and discuss the steps of project implementation, and the roles of all stakeholders, under the coordination of the national REDD+ Task Force Secretariat of the Forest Adminitration (FA).

Cambodia has been active in the area of forest monitoring, having conducted many inventories of forest resources, in several different locations around the country in recent years.  However, these have not been coordinated to allow the Royal Government of Cambodia to obtain estimates of forest resources at a national scale.  The creation of a NFI is therefore a key priority of the country’s National Forest Programme for 2010-29.  It is essential to give the FA, and other forest sector stakeholders, the necessary information to plan for, and implement, sustainable forest management practices across the country.

As Cambodia prepares its national REDD+ programme, the NFI has added significance as one key source of information in the development of a national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory, which will allow the country to assess the impact of certain activities or interventions on GHG emissions from the forest sector and to track these emissions over time.  This is essential for Cambodia to determine performance, at the national scale, in reducing emissions from deforestation, forest degradation or through better management, enhancement and conservation of forests.