Strengthening REDD+ implementation in Africa: capitalizing on lessons learned for an evolving environment
UN-REDD AFF partnership
The overall objective of this project/initiative is to strengthen African countries’ capacities and knowledge through UN-REDD’s REDD+ specific expertise, convening power and AFF’s network, regional expertise and local knowledge; thereby increasing political dialogue and policy change, as well as integration of REDD+ across policy sectors and sustainable development strategies, to better implement REDD+ in the region. By doing so, the project/initiative will contribute to AFF’s Programme 3 Goal of its 2021-2025 Strategic Plan and UN-REDD global knowledge and management workplan for 2023 (and beyond).
The long-term outcome of this project is to help countries achieve emissions reductions through the REDD+ mechanism to achieve national and global forest emissions reductions targets, including contributing to the UN-REDD Programme’s ambition of 1GtCO2eq per year by 2025
As a AFF UN-REDD partnership on knowledge management, capacity development and policy analysis and dialogue it will also support the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan 2022-2032, particularly objectives 2 (Pursuing equitable and transformative low emission, climate-resilient development pathways), 3 (Enhancing Africa’s capacity to mobilize resources and improve access to and development of technology for ambitious climate action.) and 4 (Enhancing inclusion, alignment, cooperation, and ownership of climate strategies, policies, programmes and plans across all spheres of government and stakeholder groupings.); and support the African Union Sustainable Forest Management Framework 2020-2030
Key topics of the Project
REDD+ finance, Social inclusion, Sustainable agriculture & food systems transformation towards halting forest conversion from production of agricultural commodities (in this document referred as "deforestation-free agriculture”).
African countries, especially in the Congo Basin, are a crucial part of the forest solutions (mitigation, adaptation and resilience), and of the UN-REDD goal of 1 gigaton of CO2eq emission reductions/enhanced removals, per year, by 2025. Globally, but it is especially true in Africa, countries are not making sufficient progress within their AFOLU sector. Despite recent efforts to curb tropical deforestation – including reducing demand for deforestation-linked commodities and implementing sustainable production practices – deforestation of primary forests increased by 12 percent between 2019 and 2020 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, lost nearly 500,000 hectares of primary forest in 2021, and has exhibited a consistently high rate of deforestation since 2016.
Nature-based solutions, with forest as most mature solution, are crucial to limit global warming and achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Land is both a source and a sink of GHGs, with agriculture, forest, and other land uses (AFOLU) accounting for 23% of anthropogenic emissions of CO2 equivalent from 2007 to 2016. To reach the global target of 2oC, or even to keep within 1.5°C, requires an urgent and rapid transition of the AFOLU sector. It is estimated that forests can provide a mitigation potential of between 4.1 – 6.5 GtCO2e by 2030. But financing for forest solutions remains insufficient and needs to be scaled up significantly and urgently to increase action in order to stay on the track of the Paris agreement
