September-November 2018
IN THIS ISSUE:
Greetings! 
 
         
We are excited to share this special newsletter edition with you, which commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the UN-REDD Programme. Over the past decade, we have worked with 64 partner countries to successfully achieve substantial climate, forest and development goals. To name just a few successes: more than 30 countries have advanced their national REDD+ strategies or action plans, 40 countries were supported in developing national forest monitoring systems, and 15 countries have developed country approaches to meeting the UNFCCC social and environmental safeguards requirements.
  
In this issue, Norway's Minister of Climate and Environment Ola Elvestuen calls for decisive forest action, and reaffirms his government's commitment to the future of REDD+: "Together with Germany and the UK, we pledged USD 5 billion for REDD+ between 2015 and 2020, and we are delivering on that pledge. Paying for reduced emissions remains a core part of our strategy."
  
In a special section of the newsletter titled "10-Year Anniversary", we take our readers on a journey across the globe to witness the tangible impacts of the UN-REDD Programme's work on the ground, from Mongolia developing its national Forest Reference Level, to Mexico launching the world's first-fully operational REDD+ Safeguards Information System, to Africa's unique journey and bold vision towards the implementation of REDD+.
  
We hope you enjoy this issue celebrating a decade of action on forests and climate change!
  
 
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REDD+ IN THE NEWS
Progress on National Forest Monitoring Systems for REDD+: A Win-win for Forests and Climate Action
28 August 2018 | IISD
National REDD+ Strategy prepared by Doon-based body, unveiled in Delhi by Union environ min
31 August 2018 |The TIME of India
Esfuerzos locales pueden salvar miles de hectáreas de bosques
31 July 2018 |El Mercurio, Chile
PUBLICATIONS
Strengthening National Forest Monitoring Systems for REDD+    
From reference levels to results reporting: REDD+ under the UNFCCC - 2018 update    
Inventory of volume and biomass tree allometric models for Southeast Asia: 2018 update 
UN-REDD Programme   
Lineamientos conceptuales y metodológicos para la caracterización de causas y agentes de la deforestación en Colombia
FOREST NEWS
Implementing Article 5 of the Paris Agreement and achieving climate neutrality through forests: From COFO24 to COP24   
Four new Green Climate Fund projects to support readiness activities in the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and the Lao People's Democratic Republic   
GLF Nairobi shines spotlight on communities in Africa restoring degraded landscapes
Time to scale up land restoration to advance the Sustainable Development Goals
What drives policy change for REDD+? A qualitative comparative analysis of the interplay between institutional and policy arena factors
 
JOBS/OPPORTUNITIES 
REDD+ Technical Specialist, UNDP
IISD-  Closing date: until suitable candidate is found
Programme Management Officer, P3  
UNEP- Closing date: 17 October 2018   
Senior Forestry Officer (Team Leader, FAO-EU FLEGT)
FAO - Closing date: 19 September 2018   
WATCH
Republic of Congo promotes sustainable forest management and preservation of biodiversity
Progress by Papua New Guinea leads to first forest reference level report for UNFCCC
Finance facilities for sustainable land use
"Made in Forests - a short story about sustainable fashion with Michelle Yeoh
The Sustainable Development Goals need forests
Pilares de conservación. Concesiones forestales de Petén, Guatemala

LEARN
CONNECT
ABOUT
PERSPECTIVES
UN-REDD: A Flagship Partner, by Norwegian Minister Ola Elvestuen

In 2008, Norway supported the inception of the UN-REDD Programme.  Ever since we have been close partners. Since 2008, UN-REDD has grown into a flagship UN partnership assisting countries in reaching both the Paris Agreement climate goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. Together, we have put great political efforts and substantial funds into trying to stop and reverse deforestation of tropical forests.
 
Two initiatives, one common goal: How REDD+ and FLEGT synergies put governance at the center of the solution to address deforestation and illegal timber trade 

A growing movement to halt deforestation and forest degradation has put forest governance at the center of these efforts. Governance, a cross-cutting theme, is at the heart of achieving Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement as well as the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in assuring rural economic growth and poverty reduction
 
10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY ARTICLES
Achieving the Paris Agreement through REDD+ and FLR

The role of land and forest in accelerating climate action is recognized in the Paris Agreement, including the importance of Results-Based Payments for advancing REDD+ implementation. However, while most Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) reflect some sort of forest and land-based actions, REDD+ commitments in the form of land-based targets are mostly absent in spite of global efforts to scale up towards REDD+ implementation from multilateral initiatives like the UN-REDD Programme.
 
Gender & REDD+ :UN-REDD's Innovations to Support SDGs &Transformational Policies
 
"Mainstreaming gender into REDD+ can narrow the gap between the promise and peril of REDD+ and, in so doing, it can improve REDD+ outcomes." This statement rings true as much today as it did in 2011, when it was written in the first UN-REDD gender publication: "Business Case for  Mainstreaming Gender in REDD+." Now, seven years later, with a Guidance Note on Gender Sensitive REDD+ and a Methodological Brief on Gender prepared for development practitioners and partner countries, the Programme remains committed to mainstreaming gender within its work.
 
Where Are we Now, After 10 Years of Capacity Development on National Forest Monitoring Systems of REDD?
 
Reliable forest monitoring systems are key to realizing the climate change mitigation potential of tropical forests. In fact, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol was not able to provide meaningful incentives for avoiding deforestation in tropical developing countries partly because of concerns that those countries could not  monitor emission reductions accurately.
 
Africa's Journey on REDD+ & Bold Vision towards Implementation
 
Touted as one of the most promising opportunities to address the most compelling challenges of climate change, African countries welcomed the opportunities offered by REDD+. Excitement was in the air as partner countries present at the UN-REDD Policy Board Meeting in 2009 in Panama City, huddled together during a break to discuss the new opportunities afforded by REDD+.
 
Ecuador's Pioneering Leadership on REDD+
 
Ecuador, an early pioneer in creating incentives for forest conservation and valuing the social and environmental benefits of forests, is now an established leader in the effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (commonly referred to as REDD+). Even as the concept and technicalities of REDD+ were being developed and negotiated under UNFCCC, Ecuador was applying innovative approaches to creating economic incentives for the maintenance of forest cover through its Socio Bosque program, beginning in 2008.
 
Viet Nam : A Pioneer in the REDD+ Journey

When Viet Nam joined the global UN-REDD initiative in 2009, it was one of the nine original national programmes. Phase I, which ran from 2009 to 2012, focused not only on getting "REDD+ ready," but also on contributing to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation nationally and regionally. Phase II, from 2013 to 2018, focused on enhancing Viet Nam's ability to benefit from future results-based payments for REDD+ and undertaking transformational changes in the forestry sector.
 
Integrating REDD+ and climate change into training curricula in Viet Nam for sustained long-term capacity development
 
Training measures are crucial to fill the capacity gaps for REDD+ implementation faced by Viet Nam. Thus, Viet Nam's National University of Forestry (VNUF) and UN Environment (through the UN-REDD Viet Nam Phase II Programme) collaborated to create an effective model for adopting the REDD+ Academy into the training curriculum in Viet Nam. 
 
A Pioneer and Testing Lab: DRC's Complex REDD+ Path

In 2008, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) embarked on its national REDD+ journey as one of the first countries with a National UN-REDD Programme. Over the past 10 years, the DRC has deciphered the vagaries of UNFCCC negotiations and their application at the national level to address the requirements of various initiatives
 
REDD+: A Catalyst for Land Use Planning in Liberia

Liberia is going through a major transformation. For decades, the country had low deforestation rates, but with economic recovery came increased deforestation from subsistence farming, the oil palm industry, mining, logging and other drivers. However, since REDD+ was introduced to the country in 2007, the government has been working with local, forest-dependent communities to plan integrated land uses that will create sustainable economies and reduce emissions.
 
Indigenous people use drones to protect and manage the forest in Panama
 
More than half of Panama is covered with forests, with more than one-third of those areas in indigenous territories. Since 2016, the country's indigenous groups (Bribri, Bugle, Embera, Guna, Naso Tjër-Di, Ngäbe and Wounaan) teamed up with the UN-REDD Programme to monitor the forests using drones and other technology. 
 
Mongolia, UN-REDD's first non-tropical country, develops its national Forest Reference Level

Mongolia's boreal forests are part of the world's largest land-based carbon sink, stretching across the Northern Hemisphere and supporting the livelihoods of local people, including many nomadic communities. The boreal forests, together with the country's unique saxaul forest, cover about 12% of the country's surface area. 
 
How the UN-REDD Programme changes lives
 
Nguyen Tuong Hiep is a 38-year-old farmer living in a small village in the southernmost province of Viet Nam. He is one of 2,700 households to receive 20 year contracts from the local forest management board to transform 10,000 hectares of land using sustainable agricultural practices that will enhance the villagers' livelihoods while also increasing forest cover. 
 
Honduras UN-REDD Programme achieves over 40 percent participation from women

Honduras has a forest area equivalent to almost half of its territory; however, the country faces serious problems with deforestation and degradation. Studies estimate up to 67,000 hectares are lost each year from agricultural encroachment and illegal logging. 
 
Community Based REDD+ Programme in Nigeria: a success story

Nigeria has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, with less than 10 percent of the country forested. Since 2010, the UN-REDD Programme has provided support for the country's ambitious efforts at forest conservation, climate change mitigation and community development. In particular, Cross River State, which has more than 50 percent of Nigeria's remaining tropical high forests.
Read more. 

Stakeholder inclusion at the heart of the UN-REDD Programme's work in Colombia

In Colombia, under the UN-REDD Programme, a number of activities, workshops and training sessions have taken place across the country with diverse and widespread participation from Indigenous People, Afro-Colombians and farmers.
Read more. 

Pilot project in Tunisia begins resolving land tenure claims and preventing forest conversion

While Tunisia's forest cover is relatively low, at approximately 6.6 per cent, this remaining forest is critically important to the Mediterranean ecosystem and plays an important role in climate mitigation.

Read more. 

Mexico launches world's first fully operational REDD+ safeguards information system

Mexico has 64.8 million hectares of forest, both tropical and temperate. Improving sustainable rural development has been identified in the National REDD+ Strategy as the best way to reduce the pressures that drives deforestation and forest degradation.

Read more. 

Papua New Guinea's REDD+ Journey
 
Papua New Guinea landscapes are largely dominated by mountains. From the central ridge in all directions spread extensive valleys and gorges, overgrown with hard-to-reach forest. In the north, the mountain slopes abruptly cut off to create a narrow coastal strip and the vast marshy plain of Sepik River. In the south they descend more gently to relatively flat, but heavily swampy valleys of Fly, Kikori, Purari, Tauri and other rivers, finally becoming coastal mangrove swamps.
 
STORIES
Ethiopia: An Oasis in the Horn
 
Ethiopia is a mountainous and climatically precarious country with high risk of flooding and droughts. The mountains receive more rainfall than the surrounding dry and low-lying regions and provide a critical source for rain-fed agriculture and water supply for the surrounding area. Forest resources can reduce vulnerability to climatic risks, enhance environmental protection and provide a more productive land use system for both the highlands and the Horn at large....
 
Ghana Launches a New Partnership for its National REDD+ Strategy
 
Ghana's vision for REDD+ is to significantly reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to enhance carbon stocks through sustainable forest management and forest restoration over the next 20 years. 
 
Endorsing Land Use Policy Reforms to Reduce Deforestation and Degradation in Peru
 
It is widely acknowledged that the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector plays a central role in food security and sustainable development in every country. At the same time, the sector is responsible for almost one-quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
 
Curing "Teak Fever" in Panama through Smart Reforestation
 
People have long recognized the commercial value of teak. Foresters in the Americas understand its silviculture. While the government of Panama made news recently with its program to reforest a million hectares, Alianza por El Million...
 

UN-REDD PROGRAMME NEWS

 

Since 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been collaborating closely with the Virtual Center of Excellence on Forest Monitoring (CEVMF) to reinforce South-South Cooperation in forest monitoring.
 
Salvaguardas como oportunidades para fortalecer REDD+: experiencias y lecciones aprendidas de América Latina (Parte I)
 
Varios países en América Latina han hecho avances importantes para responder a los requisitos de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático (CMNUCC) sobre salvaguardas.  Brasil, Ecuador, Colombia y Chile han entregado sus primeros resúmenes de información sobre salvaguardas ante la CMNUCC, y México tiene su primer reporte disponible
 
Latin American Journalists Visit Colombia to gain a deeper knowledge about the role of forests in mitigating climate change

Journalists from 10 Latin American countries entered the humid tropical forest of the Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor, in northwestern Colombia, to learn in depth about the UN-REDD Program and how forests play a fundamental role in mitigating change climate.
  

COUNTRY REDD+ ADVANCES 
 
According to the latest National Green House Gas Inventory submitted by Ecuador in its third national communication, the total net emission GHG emissions (base year 2012) from Ecuador were 80,627.16 Gg of CO2-eq in 2012. The Energy sector is the major contributor to national emis­sions with 47%, followed by LULUCF (land use, land-use change and forestry) sector with a share of 25% of net emissions
 
This resource is made possible through the generous support of the European Commission and the governments of Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Japan, Spain and Switzerland.

Content provided by UN-REDD Programme staff, partner countries and Guests.

All images used courtesy of license holder or through Creative Commons license.



UN-REDD Programme, 11-13, Ch. des Anémones, Geneva, 1219 Switzerland
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