Project News

One challenge commonly seen across REDD+ countries is limited country ownership of REDD+. This is largely due to the lack of tangible results in terms of payment for carbon credits. Particularly for REL^[1], as the object is CO2, which is ‘invisible', it is difficult to motivate the counterparts to learn the complicated accounting rules. In Lao PDR, only a few staff members of the counterparts have a good understanding of the contents of REL report, which was submitted to the UNFCCC in January 2018.

A two-day REL/MRV^[2] workshop was held in Thalath in August, with the participation of nearly 30 government officers, as an opportunity for intensive learning and discussion on REL and the future MRV plan. The contents of REL report, key issues discussed through technical exchange with the UNFCCC Assessment Team, and the future MRV plan were shared, followed by an exercise to reconstruct REL by using the actual data set. Some participants stated, "This was a useful opportunity to systematically learn about REL and MRV", "I will share what I learned with my colleagues", and "I clearly understood the activities and support carried out by the JICA project".

Groups exercising FREL calculation