Executive Board members of UN-REDD applauded Norway’s new pledge of NOK 240 million (about USD 29 million) in funding for the programme, made during Board meeting this week at the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The funding will be applied to the work plan for 2018-2020, approved by the Board, for UN-REDD’s work in supporting countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, delivered by FAO, UNDP and UN Environment.

The UN-REDD Programme supported a workshop on “Land Cover Map Accuracy and Training Workshop on FAO SEPAL Remote Sensing Tool” jointly organised by FAO and the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) from 2-6 May 2017 in Bogor. This training workshop provided practical technical support to Indonesia on forest change detection including deforestation and fire mapping which are vital for the advancement of REDD+ in Indonesia.

The endorsement of the Sri Lanka's National REDD+ Investment Framework and Action Plan followed another milestone by the country. A week earlier and with the vision of “Forests and beyond, sustaining life and livelihoods in a greener Sri Lanka”, Sri Lanka’s Forest Department launched the country's National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS).

Following the launch of Equatorial Guinea's REDD+ investment plan development process earlier this year, the country has built national capacity on Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. A study of the drivers of deforestation and degradation in Equatorial Guinea has also been initiated. These achievements by Equatorial Guinea benefited from the experiences of other countries in the region and synergies with the UN-REDD Programme.

Forestry officials from across Asia and the Pacific region have been exchanging ideas and experiences in both reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the forest sector, and in submitting the detailed reports that are a critical part of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). A recent workshop in Pokhara, Nepal, organized by FAO and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), facilitated connections and conversations between countries regarding the Technical Assessment process for Forest Reference Emission Levels/Forest Reference Levels (FREL/FRL).