Context
Forests are significant carbon reservoirs. Globally, around 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed each year, releasing large quantities of greenhouse gases. Avoiding deforestation and forest degradation can make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change.
Laos is rich in natural resources such as water, minerals and forests. While it still has one of the highest rates of forest cover on the Southeast Asian mainland (41.5%), the forests have nevertheless diminished dramatically in recent decades, falling from an estimated 70% forest cover in the mid-1960s.
The causes of the forest loss include, for instance, unsustainable logging practices, shifting cultivation and infrastructure development. The consequences are high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, loss of biodiversity, the lack of availability of forest products and a decline in the environmental benefits that the forest provide (water and soil protection, etc.). The people worst affected by these developments are those in the poorest sections of Lao society, especially women and ethnic minorities who depend on the intact forests for their livelihoods.
REDD stands for ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation’. It is an effort to place a financial value on the carbon stored in forests, and it provides incentives for developing countries to reduce their emissions from forested lands and to invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. REDD+ goes further REDD alone, by including the role of conservation, the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. In short, it involves various activities using financial and in-kind incentives to encourage people to stop cutting down forests.
Objective
Stakeholders in forest conservation (the rural population, forest authorities, private sector) benefit from improved conditions for sustainable forest management and REDD+ measures. This is underpinned by the appropriate policy and institutional frameworks, and initial implementation strategies at national and sub-national levels.
Approach
The ‘Climate protection through avoided deforestation’ programme was launched in 2009 to support the Lao Government in its REDD+ readiness process at national and sub-national levels. In the programme, GIZ is providing policy advice and capacity development measures to support the creation of a national and provincial REDD+ framework, as well as REDD+ planning processes. It is testing local-level mitigation in two districts in Houaphan province, and is also developing pro-poor REDD+ mechanisms and sustainable financing models. GIZ is cooperating closely with the financial component of the programme, which is funded by the German Government through KfW Development Bank.
Implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the programme is one of the first in Laos to introduce REDD+. While Germany is among the main providers of bilateral incentives within the context of REDD+, funds derived from results-based mechanisms are expected eventually to replace this support.
Results achieved so far
The REDD+ process requires an enormous effort at the outset to establish the necessary framework before it can start contributing to emission reductions. The GIZ programme has contributed to the readiness process for REDD+ in a number of ways:
• Completion of baseline studies on the current state of forests in Laos
• Support for the establishment of REDD+ institutions through capacity building measures
• Support for the forest law revision process to establish the legal framework for REDD+
• Completion of a needs assessment and human resource development plan to identify capacity requirements in the forestry sector
• Identification of two pilot provinces by assessing technical and financial REDD+ feasibility
• Introduction of concepts for REDD+ institutional structures in Houaphan and the initiation of special REDD+ training for the partners’ staff
• Delivery of training courses and development of concepts and procedures for establishing reference emission levels (as a baseline for REDD+), as well as monitoring, reporting and verification systems at national and sub-national levels
• Creation of a forest cover base map and a biomass assessment to calculate possible emission reductions from avoided deforestation in Houaphan province
• Introduction of mitigation activities, such as forest law enforcement and agriculture extension measures in selected pilot villages in both districts
• Piloting of the ‘Free, Prior and Informed Consent’ approach (FPIC) in eight villages thereby ensuring that local communities are aware of the implications of REDD+ and consent to its implementation
• Development of a concept, guidelines and materials on implementing the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) approach in close cooperation with the partners to ensure active participation of local communities in REDD+ related mitigation measures (i.e. Village Forest Management Agreements) Drafting a guideline on Village Forest Management Planning (VFMP) together with district, province and national level government staff
• Development of a concept on Village Forest Management Agreements (VilFoMA) as the basis for sustainable forest management that eventually enables villagers to financially benefit from their efforts in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation taking into consideration necessary safeguards and the FPIC approach
• Creation of a benefit sharing and distribution system, in close cooperation with the financial component