News

Mid-October, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Carbon Fund under the World Bank has accepted Laos’ Emission Reduction Program Idea Note (ER-PIN) in its thirteen’s meeting in Brussels. The acceptance paves the way for REDD+ performance-based payments.

The GIZ project CliPAD (Climate Protection through Avoided Deforestation) together with JICA, SUFORD-SU and FAO supported the Department of Forest Resource Management (DFRM) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) as well as the Department of Forestry (DoF) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) intensively in the preparation during the last six month.

The Lao programme was one of the seven programmes selected by the FCPF Carbon Fund. It is entitled ‘Promoting REDD+ through Governance, Forest landscapes and Livelihoods in Northern Lao PDR’ and covers the six provinces Bokeo, Luang Namtha, Sayabouli, Oudomxay, Luang Prabang and Houaphan which are among the poorest regions in the country. The programme will address the primary drivers of deforestation, including uncontrolled logging, commercial agriculture and new infrastructure. By tackle these issues, it supports stabilising the landscape and hence reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Laos’ efforts will also touch land tenure issues and how they impact forest loss.

The next step for Laos is to sign a Letter of Intent, upon which they will receive up to USD 650,000 of funding to prepare an in-depth plan (Emission Reductions Program Document) on how to implement the activities as well as reporting on the results. Starting from 2018, Laos will be rewarded with up to USD 35 m performance-based payments for REDD+ until 2024.

To learn more about CliPAD, click here. 
Source: The article was first appeared at: www.clipad-laos.org/2017/01/good-news-for-redd-in-laos/