Project News

2nd REL.MRV TWG meeting

The 2nd meeting of REL^[1]/MRV^[2] Technical Working Group (TWG) was held on 2nd September with a total of 30 participants from the Department of Forest Resource Management (DFRM), Department of Forestry (DOF), and development partners concerned.

The meeting confirmed the submission schedule of REL to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the FCPF Carbon Fund (FCPF CF), and agreed on the need to establish a REL drafting team to task this work. As Lao PDR is aiming to develop the RELs for both the UNFCCC and the FCPF CF in parallel, precise scheduling and careful management of the drafting process will be required.

The stepwise development of the National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS)^[3] was another topic discussed. The NFMS for Lao PDR was agreed to focus on supporting the MRV as its first step, and gradually expand its function to include other monitoring information.

Moreover, the Government of Lao (GoL) reported the results of National Forest Inventory (NFI) for the dry season 2015-2016, and also shared their initiative of reviewing the forest and land classification system, as well as the definitions of deforestation, forest degradation and reforestation.

Furthermore, the TWG — currently only five members officially appointed — suggested to introduce the ‘assistant system', which would consist of adding more members to the TWG from the relevant departments, with the aim of strengthening the TWG foundation as well as providing more capacity building opportunities for the technical staff. The idea was highly welcomed and endorsed by the participants.