For two weeks in late November and early December 2016, a masters’ level course in MRV for REDD+ was held for Pacific Island countries at the University of Melbourne’s Creswick Campus. The course gathered 26 participants from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Secretariat for Pacific Communities to provide comprehensive training in the development of measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) for efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation, degradation and related activities (REDD+).

Improved forest monitoring systems, a critical measure on the road to implementing REDD+, have advanced significantly in Sri Lanka with the launch of an online geoportal that will help the country move closer to achieving its development and mitigation targets. The online portal, which includes a wide variety of maps, satellite imagery, and information on a range of protected areas, is designed to be accessible to the public, meeting demands for information that is transparent as well as consistent.

When the UN-REDD Programme intensified its work to address tenure issues within the context of REDD+, the challenge involved more than delivering financial and technical support to partner countries. It soon became evident that many countries, while recognizing that resolution of tenure issues was fundamental to REDD+ success, were nonetheless uneasy about taking the first steps. Particularly in situations where laws and policies governing land are not clear, where rights to land are customary rather than statutory, and where conversion pressures on land are high, the mere mention of tenure in official circles can cause some apprehension.

The UN-REDD Programme's newly released Methodological Brief on Gender defines its approach to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It provides guidance, concrete entry points and good practice examples to help countries achieve gender-responsive REDD+ action across the REDD+ policy cycle, including in design, implementation and monitoring.

Technical experts gathered in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire at the fourth and final regional “Training the Trainers” Workshop to share their knowledge on REDD+ Monitoring, and Measurement, Reporting and Verification. The workshop was hosted by the Global Forest Observation Initiative (GFOI) & GOFC-GOLD from 6-10 February 2017.