Republic of the Congo signs its UN-REDD National Programme and Luxembourg makes new donor pledge of €2 million.
(BRAZZAVILLE, REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO)-- During its ninth UN-REDD Programme Policy Board meeting 26-27 October 2012 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, the Board approved the two-year work plan and revised budget of US$47.6 million for global-level and country-specific support to national REDD+ actions for 2013 and 2014.
His Excellency Henri Djombo, Minister of Forest Economy and Sustainable Development, signs Republic of the Congo’s UN-REDD National Programme.
Through the Support to National REDD+ Action – Global Programme Framework 2011-2015, these funds will provide the Programme's 46 partner countries with targeted support, as well as common tools and approaches for various aspects of REDD+ readiness. This includes capacity building in the areas of forest monitoring systems, governance, stakeholder engagement, as well as promoting the multiple benefits of forests and the potential of REDD+ for green economy transformations.
The Board was pleased to welcome a first-time funding pledge of €2 million from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is the sixth donor to support the UN-REDD Programme, joining Denmark, the European Commission, Japan, Norway and Spain. With this pledge from Luxembourg, donor pledges and contributions to the UN-REDD Programme now total approximately US$156 million.
The Board applauded its host, the Republic of the Congo, for officially signing its UN-REDD National Programme just minutes before the ninth Policy Board meeting began. After the signing ceremony, the Republic of the Congo's Minister of Forest Economy and Sustainable Development, H.E. Henri Djombo, and FAO Representative in Republic of the Congo, Mr. Dieudonné Koguiyagda, welcomed more than 100 participants from 29 countries to the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board meeting.
"With the support from UN-REDD, which is completely coordinated with the support from the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, Congo's National REDD+ Coordination will be able to prepare the country for REDD+ by 2015," said Minister Djombo.
During the two-day meeting, the Board heard encouraging updates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and Viet Nam, which are three of the first UN-REDD Programme partner countries in the process of completing their UN-REDD National Programmes. The Board also decided to support the implementation of selected activities within Bolivia's UN-REDD National Programme, in line with the government's priorities and in accordance with the UN-REDD Programme's guidelines. Since 2010, there had been delays in Bolivia's UN-REDD National Programme due to changes in the country's climate change priorities.
More than 100 participants from 29 countries participated in the UN-REDD Programme’s ninth Policy Board meeting.
Another key decision of the Policy Board was the approval of the Programme's "Tier 2" modality, which operationalizes a new funding channel, allowing the Programme to connect donors with partner countries that wish to build their cooperation based on the UN-REDD Programme's standards and quality assurance measures.
The UN-REDD Programme was pleased to take the opportunity of the ninth Policy Board meeting to launch its Africa Lessons Learned booklet, now available for download in English, French and Spanish.
Other Policy Board highlights
The Board welcomed the conclusion and recommendations of the joint UN-REDD Programme and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) country needs assessment, which was released in early October. The Board also received updates from the UN-REDD Programme agencies (FAO, UNDP, UNEP) on the results being achieved by partner countries in the areas of national forest monitoring systems, multiple benefits of REDD+, green economy transitions as well as gender and REDD+. Gender is a relatively new dimension of REDD+ readiness that the Programme is exploring with countries, and participants showed significant interest in it, both during the Policy Board as well as in pre-meetings on the topic.
Two days before the ninth Policy Board meeting, the Republic of the Congo hosted two field visits for UN-REDD Programme and FCPF participants in Brazzaville, to visit a managed and certified forest area in Pokola and a gorilla sanctuary in Lesio-Louna.
The Policy Board meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Carola Borja, Undersecretary of Climate Change, in Ecuador's Ministry of Environment, and Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Participants included representatives from the Programme’s partner and donor countries along with permanent observers from FCPF, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as new indigenous peoples and civil society organization representatives from Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean. The meeting was held at the Ledger Plaza Maya-Maya Hotel in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
All documents and presentations from the ninth UN-REDD Programme Policy Board meeting are available on the Programme's website. The tenth Policy Board meeting will be held in Indonesia in June 2013.
