Project News

Ms. Makimoto (left) and Mr. Sousath (right)

The 2nd Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) was held on 12th May, chaired by Mr. Sousath Sayakoummane, Director General of DOF and co-chaired by Ms. Saeda Makimoto, Senior Representative of JICA Laos Office. The main objectives of the meeting were to present the outputs produced up until now and the planned activities for the future.

The meeting agreed to assign DOF as the sole implementing agency following the Lao Government decision to integrate the forestry sector agencies under DOF. Accordingly, the JCC members and the project implementation structure will be revised. Additional support, requested by MAF, was also approved. Namely support for revising the Forestry Law, development of "Emission Reduction Program Document (ERPD)" for the FCPF Carbon Fund, and the policy piloting in Luang Prabang province.

Lao PDR is now in the preparation stage of REDD+ towards the result based payment from the UNFCCC and the FCPF Carbon Fund. With support from F-REDD and other development partners, the country has several important tasks to complete in the next year, such as submission of the FREL/FRL to the UNFCCC, submission of the ERPD to the FCPF Carbon Fund, and formulation of the Provincial REDD+ Action Plan for Luang Prabang. The co-chairs concluded the meeting by emphasizing the need of all the stakeholders to join efforts on fulfilling these tasks within the given time, and also the need of sufficient capacity building of the Lao counterparts during this time.