GFOI

To enhance Viet Nam's ability to benefit from future results-based payments for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) and to undertake transformational changes in the forestry sector.

One of the priorities for FY19 is to continue supporting Viet Nam in building capacity related to the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector in the greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, primarily through strengthening the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) capacity to use the Agriculture and Land Use National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Software (ALU tool) for implementing the TACCC principles (transparent, accurate, consistent, complete, comparable) in compiling the GHG inventory. Following the recommendations from the most recent ALU tool training session (August 2018), in FY19, the focus will be on: (1) training and quality-control assessment for the evaluation of the land-use product to determine uncertainties and classification error; (2) further assistance to develop consistent estimates between the GHG inventory and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) reporting, such as guidance on methods for harmonization of land-use data produced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and MONRE and quality control of the stock difference method; and (3) quality-control review of uncertainty analyses and source categories in the agricultural sector, which has generally received less attention in previous capacity-building workshops.

Development of the national forest monitoring system (NFMS), including the implementation of a national forest inventory (NFI), the development of a forest reference level (FRL) and a  measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system, accompanied by extensive capacity-building and development of standard operating procedures.

Workshop to the Full Lands Integration Tool (FLINT), focusing on a systemic approach to MRV, using IPCC Approach 3, and integration of various data sets, Participants reviewed their national land sector policies to determine the minimum requirements for their national MRV systems and checked what improvements are required.

Building on earlier nation-wide assessments of land use/change (i.e. Activity Data) using Collect Earth in 2019 and 2021, it is important for REDD+ initiatives, ISFL, USAID's charcoal project and the NFMS as a whole to periodically monitor land use change and forest loss for the entire country. Collect Earth (online) is a tool that is widely used for Activity Data collection and Forestry Department staff are in the process of learning to operate this tool with minimal outside technical assistance. The generated datasets will allow for the estimating of emission reductions and subsequent result-based payments. Datasets generated by Collect Earth also help measure impact of project or policy interventions on the forestry sector. Likewise, these data are essential for reporting on ETF and NDC progress.

Forestry emission factors for Zambia have been developed with SilvaCarbon support in FY20. The development of emission factors for regrowth was not included in this effort and is a more complex process involving the generation of growth curves, possibly requiring GPS based field monitoring and/or using default growth curves for Miombo forest. For inclusion of regrowth a review will be completed outlining existing information and growth curves for relevant species as well as data gaps. This work will be done with the Zambian Forestry Department with the help and guidance of a USFS expert. Analyzing growth data for common Zambian tree species should give a better idea of carbon gains in the event of forest regrowth, assisted natural regeneration, or tree planting, which are activities envisioned to take place under ISFL in Zambia. This activity will enable the Zambian Forestry Department to generate more accurate estimations of emission reductions (or technically removals) from forest regrowth. This can improve estimations for this category in the ISFL project and may lead to adding this category to a future update of the FREL.

A method piloted by SERVIR West Africa to identify charcoal kilns, using very high-resolution imagery, will be tested and implemented.This activity will improve estimate emissions estimates from degradation, assist identification of drivers of degradation and enhance sustainable forest management (e.g., through community forest management groups). Identification of kilns may assist with law enforcement activities and could help estimate the proportion of forest degradation attributable to charcoal production.

While activity data for forest degradation have been collected during the process of updating the FREL (2020) with FAO guidance, there is scope to further elaborate and improve on this work to come to a better estimation of areas of degraded forest in Zambia's Eastern Province and for the entire country. This activity will make use of another round of data collection with Collect Earth (Aug 2021 - with FAO guidance), with more emphasis on forest degradation than in previous efforts. A next step is to use the same Collect Earth data to run the CODED algorithm, with help and guidance from Boston University and USFS, and get additional spatial data on forest degradation in Zambia. There is a specific interest to quantify areas of degraded forest due to charcoal production. This will be complementary to a recently started USAID program focusing on reducing charcoal production in Zambia.Improved data on forest degradation is critical for a more accurate estimation of emission from the forestry sector. This will benefit national NFMS and GHG accounting, as well as forestry sector emission estimations for the ISFL project. Progress has been made by including degradation in Collect Earth assessments.

Formulation Funding for Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Country Needs Assessments

Improving methods for satellite monitoring of tropical dry forest landscapes and forest degradation assessment, with technical knowledge and capacity development for global application in sustainable forest management, including REDD+. Along with the increased national level capacities, this will enable better informed and more effective monitoring and management planning of these dry tropical woodland ecosystems which have enormous livelihood value for some of the world's poorest people.

Strengthening countries’ capacities to access to the Green Climate Fund, in particular REDD+ SAP and RBPs windows

The Zambian Forestry Department had requested support to develop a REDD+ Registry to monitor and approve REDD+ projects in Zambia. In FY 21 a web-based platform has been developed with support of SilvaCarbon, which has been populated with data from Zambian REDD+ projects. In FY22 this activity will require support in the implementation phase (further adjustments and capacity building). The support of an IT specialist will make this possible. Building on the developed REDD+ Registry system, support for implementation will ensure successful operationalization of the system.

The UN-REDD Programme supports nationally led REDD+ processes and promotes the informed and meaningful involvement of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities, in national and international REDD+ implementation. The programme supports target countries through: Direct support to the design and implementation of National REDD+ Programmes; Complementary tailored support to national REDD+ actions; and Technical capacity building support through sharing of expertise, common approaches, analyses, methodologies, tools, data, best practices and facilitated South-South knowledge sharing.

Since it is likely that "cropland remaining cropland" is the top non-forest emission category and will be part of the ZIFLP-ERPA, improved data for this category (or alternative category identified) will enhance more accurate estimation of emissions for this category. SilvaCarbon support can help with targeted activity data collection and, subsequent analysis and development of Tier 2 emission factors, in collaboration with the Zambian Department of Agriculture. This will contribute to the overall project goal to look beyond the forestry sector and implement a landscape wide activity aimed at generating emission reductions.

Workshop to the Full Lands Integration Tool (FLINT), focusing on a systemic approach to MRV, using IPCC Approach 3, and integration of various data sets, Participants reviewed their national land sector policies to determine the minimum requirements for their national MRV systems and checked what improvements are required.