Project News

Members of the PRTF discussed the roadmap to develop the PRAP

Luang Prabang established its Provincial REDD+ Task Force (PRTF) in May 2016 as a hub for promoting REDD+ in the province. The PRTF consists of government representatives from relevant sectors who have a stake in forest management. Following the kick-off meeting in July 2016 and the 2nd meeting in December, the 3rd PRTF meeting was held on 3rd February 2017. The objective of this meeting was to discuss the process, schedule and implementation arrangements for the provincial REDD+ planning, which will then be summarized into a document called the "Provincial REDD+ Action Plan (PRAP)".

Over the last six months, F-REDD has collaborated mainly with the provincial level authorities—holding a series of meetings—to analyze the causes of deforestation and forest degradation, social and environmental risks, and other issues associated with the implementation of REDD+. The outputs are the preliminary design of REDD+ activities for Luang Prabang province.

The next step is to ensure that the designed REDD+ activities are in line with the agenda of the local-level stakeholders, and support and promote REDD+ safeguards. To verify this, the PRTF members agreed on the need of outreaching to the district forestry officers and the local communities through multi-layered consultations.

The Provincial REDD+ Office (PRO) leads the consultation process, and district task units will be set up and collaborate with the PRO in each district. A series of consultation meetings will start in the coming month, targeting the 12 districts and sample village clusters that are showing high deforestation and forest degradation.