Doha, Qatar -- 5 December 2012 – A case study of a REDD+ readiness pilot project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was officially released today at the 18th meeting of the Conference to the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC-COP18). The report seeks to share with high-level climate policy makers attending the event the on-the-ground successes that are being achieved in developing countries, such as DRC, as they prepare for REDD+.

 

In the report, REDD+ for People and Nature: Case study of an integrated approach to REDD+ readiness in Mai-Ndombe, Democratic Republic of Congo,  DRC’s process of establishing  REDD+ readiness is highlighted.  This includes the development of land use and micro-zoning maps with the participation of local communities and community level monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) of forest carbon emissions. 

 

 The report also notes that the success of the Mai-Ndombe REDD+ pilot project has now been leveraged to develop DRC’s Emissions Reduction Programme Idea Note (ER-PIN), propelling DRC beyond planning and into the investment or demonstration phase of REDD+.  This makes DRC the first African country to have its REDD+ national strategy validated by the international community via both the UN-REDD and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facilit , as well as its USD $60 million investment plan validated by the Forest Investment Program  managed by the World Bank.

 

The report, which was produced, in partnership, by WWF’s international Forest and Climate Initiative and the Government of DRC, was official launched in Doha by Mr. N’Sa Mputu Elima Bavon, Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism for the DRC. This took place at an event at COP18 announcing the launch of DRC’s National REDD+ Strategic Framework and establishment of The National REDD+ Trust Fund of DRC, a mechanism to mobilize and manage “climate finance for the development of the DRC.”

 

In releasing the report, Flory Botamba, WWF-DRC Mai-Ndombe Project Manager said:  “This case study demonstrates that DRC, is taking  REDD+ very seriously and is prepared to address the drivers of deforestation by strengthening the rights of local communities to forest resources, addressing the fuel wood crisis, and combating illegal logging.  DRC is now moving their plans into action, and prepared to go to scale.”

 

Bruce Cabarle, Leader of WWF’s Forest and Climate Initiative said: “Developed countries need to scale up their commitment to REDD+ finance so that countries like DRC can continue to move their REDD+ strategies into action. WWF is calling on Parties to UNFCCC to make concrete commitments for new and additional REDD+ finance until 2020 and beyond for all phases of REDD+ planning, investment and results based actions.  Developing countries also need to demonstrate their commitment to transparency and accountability to ensure that REDD+ finance indeed has an impact on stemming the loss of tropical forests and associated degradation that contributes up to 20 percent of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.”