Since its 2008 inception, the UN-REDD Programme has evolved and shifted its focus to meet the challenges and opportunities of a modern global climate landscape. A growing number of UN-REDD partner countries are now preparing for and implementing REDD+ actions against the backdrop of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Programme has responded to this demand by turning its assistance to help partners align and achieve their climate and forest goals. As its partner countries are making the transition from REDD+ readiness to implementation, the UN-REDD Programme evaluates the progress done so far and prepares for the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Every year, the Executive Board of the UN-REDD Programme represents an important opportunity to not only evaluate the Programme’s past successes but to layout the plan for its future work. This year, the 3rd Executive Board meeting took place on 21 June back-to-back with the 50th sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) as well as Global Landscapes Forum (GLF Bonn 2019). The Executive Board is composed of representatives of donors, UN-REDD Programme countries, Indigenous Peoples, civil society organizations, and the participating UN agencies  - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Environment.

During the meeting, the participants highlighted annual results at the global and country level. Building on its experience and expertise, the UN-REDD Programme has adopted a dual approach to REDD+ action through technical assistance in nine countries (Colombia, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Mexico, Myanmar, Peru, Viet Nam and Zambia) and through global knowledge components. National programmes in 10 countries helped UN-REDD partners across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean move closer to fulfilling the requirements under the Warsaw Framework for REDD+.

The UN-REDD Programme has supported 40 countries in developing NFMS since its inception. This has included technical support for Satellite Land Monitoring Systems (SLMS) used for generating land-cover/land-use (change) information. Myanmar received significant support for its ongoing NFI, including technical assistance on methodological design and data processing. The Republic of the Congo developed its first methodology to determine and map forest degradation in order to better ascertain the location of degraded areas in the country. In Colombia, guidelines were developed for monitoring forest restoration.

Programme support enabled several countries – Argentina, Bangladesh, Nigeria and the Solomon Islands – to finalize their Forest reference (emission) levels (FRELs/FRLs) for submission in early 2019, either through direct programme support in 2018 or building on support previously provided. Several countries received support to assess and report REDD+ results to UNFCCC (Colombia, Ecuador and Chile), as well as two countries that are expected to submit these in the near future (Cambodia and Papua New Guinea).

Moreover, technical experts from the UN-REDD partner organizations – FAO, UNDP and UN Environment – helped countries move beyond the Warsaw Framework to develop investment plans for resource mobilization and accelerate REDD+ implementation. In 2018, the Programme supported a total of 19 countries through national programmes and technical assistance for REDD+ implementation.

The meeting will also address the role the UN-REDD Programme will play in the upcoming the UN Secretary General’s Climate Change Summit 2019 where the importance of intact, healthy and sustainable and their contributions to nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation will be prominent.

During the meeting, the Board also approved the UN-REDD Programme’s 2020 Work Plan and Budget, which has identified nine countries — Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Mexico, Myanmar, Peru, Republic of the Congo, Viet Nam and Zambia — in which in-country support will be catalytic in achieving each country’s particular REDD+ goals, coupled with robust global knowledge and capacity-building activities.

Founded 10 years ago with the ongoing and substantial support of Denmark, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the European Union, the UN-REDD Programme was the first joint global United Nations programme on climate change. Read more about the Programme at https://www.un-redd.org/

For more information, please contact:

Malgorzata Buszko-Briggs

Senior Forestry Officer

REDD+ Team Leader

[email protected]

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