National Forest Programme

Integrating climate change, REDD+ and FLEGT into NFPs

Forest resources all around the world are affected by climate change. Deforestation and forest degradation, partly driven by illegal logging, are significant causes of the warming climate. REDD+¹, aiming to reduce forest loss, and FLEGT², designed to halt illegal logging of forests, support many developing countries to improve governance and management of forests and trees. To facilitate coordinated approaches to climate change and these forest processes at country level, FAO Forestry is currently undertaking two initiatives.

Integrating climate change issues into national forest programmes 

FAO Forestry Department and the NFP Facility initiated a joint effort in 2009 to assist countries in addressing emerging policy issues related to forests and climate change, through integrating climate change considerations into NFPs. More information on the project is available here.

 
@FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Opportunities for synergies in designing and implementing REDD+ and FLEGT in the context of NFPs

Many developing countries are involved in REDD+ and FLEGT, such as VPA³, processes. Although these processes have specific objectives, they have similarities in activities. In particular, both processes aim to strengthen forest governance through work with policy, legislative and institutional frameworks and implement activities at national and sub-national levels.

These similarities in activities may bring opportunities for collaboration and synergies. FAO Forestry Department, the EU FAO FLEGT Programme and the UN-REDD Programme started an initiative in 2012 aiming to to identify linkages and opportunities for synergies between the respective processes. To facilitate coordination, the initiative also aims to support the coherent integration of REDD+ and FLEGT activities into the NFPs/national forest planning processes. 

At national level, the initiative has undertaken country studies in Cameroon  and the Central African Republic  (both in French) while the reports are under finalization in Ghana and Liberia. The studies review the status of NFP and REDD+ and FLEGT processes in the country, pinpoint possible common work areas and suggest some follow-up activities.

At the global level, FAO interviewed several international bodies and organizations active in the REDD+ and FLEGT processes to gather their views and experiences related to the linkages of REDD+ and FLEGT. The summary of the interview results can be found here. In addition, FAO and partners organized two workshop sessions during 2012:

• The first session during the Committee on Forestry and World Forestry Week 2012 (28 September 2012, FAO headquarters in Rome). Please click the titles to open the brochure, the first country presentation on Vietnam and the second country presentation on Ghana.
• The second session in collaboration with Tropenbos International on the 25th October 2012 during the regional workshop Experiences from the VPA process in West and Central African countries (25 October 2012, Accra, Ghana). Please click the titles to open the related background document , the first country presentation on Ghana and the second country presentation on Liberia.  

In February 2013, FAO organized a small-scale, internal stock-taking and planning meeting to collect lessons learned from the 2012 activities and to formulate a work plan for 2013. For more information on the current activities, please contact Mr. Ewald Rametsteiner ([email protected]).