On 21 November 2018, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched its new Partnership with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation (DNP) of the Royal Thai Government, on the forest and climate change program, widely known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).  Through the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) of the World Bank, FAO has helped countries in all regions of the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the forestry sector, and Thailand is the latest to join this program.

Under the Partnership, FAO will assist Thailand in developing the Forest Reference Level (FRL), so the country can set a benchmark against which it can measure the emissions reduced from implementing a national REDD+ program. In addition, Thailand’s National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) will be improved and updated as a practical tool for national forest policy and planning.

At the Partnership launch event in Cha-am, Petchaburi, representatives of DNP and several other agencies of the Royal Thai Government, assembled with FAO to initiate the first training activities under the FCPF program. ‘I’m delighted that FAO will work closely with Thailand on this initiative as the forest sector plays a key role in both climate change mitigation and adaptation. With the recent development of Thailand becoming a member of the UN-REDD program, and its ambitious goal to reduce national emissions between 20-25 percent by 2030, as set out in the national commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, this Partnership has indeed come at the right time,’ said Ben Vickers, the Regional REDD+ program officer from the FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok.

Through the Readiness Fund of the World Bank’s FCPF, Thailand received 3.6 million US dollars in grant funding for the preparation of its REDD+ program. The National Project Steering Committee was established to provide guidance on the implementation of the fund, including the FAO-supported components. The new FAO-DNP Partnership will initially run until the end of September 2019.