Project News

Having given support for the construction of the Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL)*1 in 2018, F-REDD is now supporting Lao PDR in conducting its first national MRV*2. The objective of this MRV is to measure the reduced emissions and increased removals achieved during the 2015-2018 period against the FREL baseline for 2005-2014, and then report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for verification.

Various analyses based on land and forest cover changes assessed by remote sensing and forest biomass measurement by the National Forest Inventory (NFI) in 2019 showed an achievement of reduced emissions of approximately 12.8 million tCO2e and approximately 1.9 billion tCO2e of increased removals for the 2015-2018 period. This means that greenhouse gas emissions from Lao forests were reduced more than expected compared to the baseline through the successful control of deforestation and forest degradation, while at the same time the removal of greenhouse gases through forest restoration has gradually increased. This achievement was greatly welcomed by the Lao government and development partners who have invested effort for years to promote REDD+.

With this achievement, the Lao government and JICA decided to further cooperate in applying for the REDD+ Results-Based Payment Pilot Programme*3 of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). In February, a mission from the JICA Global Environment Department (consisting of Mr. Takahiro Morita, Senior Deputy Director General, and Ms. Rika Ito, Deputy Director of Natural Environment Team 1) visited Vientiane to discuss future work plans with the Department of Forestry. JICA has agreed to act as the Accredited Entity for proposing a program to the GCF; a close collaboration between the Lao government and JICA is required for the submission of the Concept Note this year and the subsequent Funding Proposal.

To apply for this GCF program, several criteria need to be satisfied, such as the establishment of a safeguard information system, the completion of verification of the first national MRV results by the UNFCCC, and the formulation of a plan to reinvest the results-based payment into forest management. Since the roadmap towards REDD+ result-based payments is becoming much clearer, we are now hoping that cooperative efforts will be further expedited.

*1: See Newsletter Vol. 9.

*2: MRV is a system to carry out the Measuring, Reporting, and Verification of emission reduction and removal as a result of REDD+ implementation. Please see the link for more information on the rules under the UNFCCC.

*3: https://www.greenclimate.fund/redd See Newsletter Vol. 12 for more information on utilization of the GCF in the Lao forestry sector.

Mr. Takahiro Morita meeting with Vice Minister Thonphat from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.