While Tunisia’s National REDD+ Strategy is not yet in place, the UN-REDD Programme completed three key studies to contribute to its development. These studies include a series of needs assessments for the NFMS, institutional arrangements and tenure security in the context of REDD+. The studies make detailed recommendations to support further progress under three of the four Warsaw Pillars.
Tunisia made headway in implementing REDD+ through developing national capacity with a pilot project to address issues of forestland encroachment in the Siliana governorate. The six-month project involved workshops with Government officials, provision of field measurement and data collection equipment and on-the-ground implementation, followed by reflection, reporting and sharing of results. Officers from the Directorate General of Forestry, including one woman, were trained in Open Tenure, Collect Mobile and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) operation. They used their new skills to collaborate with local stakeholders in Siliana, including land claimants in State forestlands, to collect claim data, identify precise State forest boundaries, and prepare dossiers for regularization of overlapping claims. More than 60 claimant surveys were collected and more than 70 forest boundary markers installed. It is hoped that through this collaborative approach, land claimants will refrain from further expanding agriculture into State forestlands.
During the fieldwork in Siliana, a lack of female participation in the pilot activities became evident with the majority of participants and land claimants being male. The UN-REDD Programme’s efforts in promoting the benefits of women’s involvement in activities to stakeholders in Tunisia resulted in one woman participating in capacity-development and pilot activities. In addition, a few local women were interviewed to collect their viewpoints on land and forest issues.
The results of the support have been shared with those developing the Forest Investment Programme, the Readiness Preparation Proposal and the Integrated Landscape Management in Tunisia’s Lagging Regions Project, implemented by the World Bank and funded by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Country-level partners continue to support and coordinate with this initiative.
