FAO delivers training to strengthen climate monitoring in Africa as part of forest restoration and ecosystems project

News - 08.01.2025

FAO’s Environmental eXternalities ACcounting Tool (EX-ACT) team has just returned from Cameroon, where it delivered capacity-building training on climate action and greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for the Alliance for Restoration of Forest Landscapes and Ecosystems in Africa (AREECA), a consortium of 4 African countries collaborating to restore landscapes.

AREECA, a five-year initiative dedicated to restoring degraded ecosystems and enhancing community resilience, is making strides in climate action through capacity-building initiatives. A key milestone was achieved with a comprehensive training on EX-ACT, a cutting-edge tool designed to measure and monitor the carbon balance of land restoration activities. Its use by AREECA underscores the consortium’s commitment to integrating climate-smart solutions into large-scale restoration efforts in Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, and Rwanda.

The training, held between the 9–14 December 2024, brought together 20 participants, including government stakeholders, monitoring specialists from partner organizations, and project managers. Organized in collaboration with GIZ, the workshop focused on training particpaints to be able to use the tool independently, while also offering a deep dive into greenhouse gas accounting processes and the application of localized parameters.

Participants actively engaged in the training and acquired a stronger understanding of EX-ACT’s features, equipping them with the skills to monitor the climate impact of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) activities in their respective countries. These efforts are anticipated to contribute to measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen the resilience of tree-rich landscapes.

Through initiatives like this, FAO’s EX-ACT team from the Agrifood Economics and Policy Divison, is helping to empower local and regional stakeholders with a tool and knowledge needed to address climate challenges and foster sustainable development.