Outline of the Project

Project Name

Sustainable Forest Management and REDD+ Support Project

Country

Lao PDR

Date Record of Discussion singed

16th September 2014

Project site

Vientiane Capital, Luang Prabang Province

Term of Cooperation

1st October 2014 - 30th September 2021

Implementing Agency

Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

Background

The forest cover rate in Laos, which was more than 70% in 1940's, has dropped to 40% in 2010 due to industrial development, such as hydropower and mining, and land use change, such as agricultural expansion (of both plantations and individual farmers), which are both considered factors attributable to population increase and economic growth. In response to such serious deforestation and degradation of forests, the Government of Lao PDR (GoL) has formulated the "Forestry Strategy to the year 2020" (FS2020) with the goal of restoring the forest cover rate to 70%. In addition, the GoL has established the National REDD+ Task Force (NRTF) and is implementing REDD+ as it recognizes the importance of REDD+ as an opportunity for forest conservation and rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, the institutional reform in 2011 saw the Department of Forest Resource Management (DFRM) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) adopting the administration of protection forests and conservation forests, while the Department of Forestry (DOF) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) will continue to administer the production forests. This has resulted in lack of sufficient capacity and consistency of the government to administer forest conservation as a whole. Specifically, this institutional reform has meant unclarity over division of (forest management) roles, and an imbalance in personnel numbers, in the respective organizations. Furthermore, forest management capacity building of local level agencies is also in urgent need.

While REDD+ requires accurate information of forest resources, for example through satellite image analysis, GoL is still insufficient in its capacity to analyze and administer REDD+ related data. Moreover, GoL is also lacking in human resources to accumulate and analyze such data.

Against such a background, the GoL requested the "Forestry Sector Policy Strategy for Sustainable Forest Management and REDD+ Promotion Project" to Japan. Therefore, previous this project collected and arranged additional information necessary for the implementation of this Project, and the GoL agreed on the contents of this cooperation to start this Project.

REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries) is a system whereby the international society gives economic incentives to developing countries for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Overall Goal

Sustainable Forest Management is promoted through full implementation of REDD+ and in coordination with the Forest Strategy

Project Purpose

Capacity for Sustainable Forest Management is strengthened through incorporation of REDD+ into the sector strategy and improved forest resource information.

Outputs

Output 1: Capacity of the central government on policy development, implementation and sector coordination is enhanced.

Output 2: Emission reductions and removals resulting from the implementation of the REDD+ activities are quantified at national scale by using the National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS).

Output 3: Institutional development, management and coordination of national REDD+ is enhanced.

Output 4: REDD+ readiness in Luang Prabang Province is enhanced.

Inputs

Japanese side
Japanese Experts (short term), local Project staff
Training in Japan
Machinery and equipment

Lao side
Counterpart staff
Facilities, machinery, and equipment