An initiative to train professionals in reporting on forest, agriculture and other land use-based emissions to the UNFCCC has completed its first milestone: by launching the programme in 21 countries.

The Reporting for Results-based REDD+ (RRR+) project will assist countries to create greenhouse gas emissions inventories, and build their skills to measure and report on forest- and land-based emissions in the long term. Improved reporting will help the participating countries to access results-based REDD+ payments in the future.

The first step in this ambitious, three-year journey was for the expert trainers to identify champions in each of the 21 countries involved. The training team is based with the Coalition for Rainforest Nations in New York, and assisted by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network.

National champions

The team has kicked off the project in the 21 countries by selecting the national champions and working with them to:

• document what the country is already doing to measure and report its agriculture, forest and other land use emissions;
• map which national institutions and networks need to be involved in taking forward REDD+ reporting in the future.

In each case, a national inception meeting involved an open session for all stakeholders who are interested in REDD+ readiness: from early to mid-2017. These gatherings were met with an enthusiastic response, according to Paul Chung, Chief Operations Officer of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations.

“Everyone recognises that reporting on land-based and forest emissions is the first step to getting results-based payments – there’s a huge demand for it,” he said.

In addition to a national lead, the project also intends to sign up 1-3 more REDD+ experts in each country to participate in ongoing mentoring and training from now until 2019.

At present, the national leads are “doing their homework and receiving long-distance support,” said Mr Chung, including recruiting their fellow trainees. In 2018, the RRR+ team will conduct face-to-face trainings in the 21 countries.

Sharing experience among countries

More recently, the project team held three regional workshops, which brought together the project’s REDD+ experts. This was the first opportunity for the national experts from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia to meet colleagues from other countries within their region. In these collaborative workshops, the project participants shared their success stories and challenges, and left with new contacts and new ideas for moving their inventory processes forward.

“it was a great pleasure to be part of such an open conversation to discuss the progress as well as the challenges faced in the region as it relates to REDD+,” said Hans Sukhdeo from Guyana.

“I would just like to add my voice to the many which have already expressed that the workshop was quite informative and has indeed opened up possibilities for Saint Lucia in relation to REDD+ and greenhouse gas inventory. We hope to further develop the South-South cooperation and look forward to further conversation and collaboration with our regional neighbours,” added Rebecca Rock, St Lucia.

“The success of the regional workshops has demonstrated that there is already a treasure trove of expertise within our participant countries, and that this provides engaging lessons for others,” said Senior Project Manager Christina Elvers of CDKN. “We will be working hard to document some of that shared experience in the coming year, to bolster our project champions’ own efforts and to inspire a much larger community of professionals with an interest in REDD+.”

Image: Courtesy CIFOR