Progress against the Warsaw Framework
In 2018, UN-REDD helped strengthen the capacities of national and regional authorities to support the implementation of the Warsaw Framework elements, promote understanding of the multiple values of forests, drive and coordinate the development of the various REDD+ components, and design a model for decentralized REDD+ under the Warsaw Framework.
REDD+ Implementation
UN-REDD supported the development of a capacity-building framework focused on government forest agencies and academia, including training on REDD+ implementation and REDD+ finance for the practitioners in the sector.
UN-REDD support also provided input for a concept note on a multi-sector programme to support the National Forest Sector Development Programme (NFSDP), which was integrated into a proposal developed by the Government. Furthermore, a coordination framework was developed under the NFSDP to enhance institutional coordination and partnership arrangements.
UN-REDD helped the Government promote strategic partnerships and coordination platforms for NFSDP implementation, as well as related PAMs, through the integration of REDD+ into the multi-sectoral investment plans. The report Scoping private sector opportunities in Ethiopia: How to stimulate both economic development and REDD+ implementation? illustrates the work undertaken on engaging the private sector in investments that support forest and climate change objectives.
Challenges and Solutions
Changes to government structure in 2018 resulted in the abolishment of the Ministry of Environment as the entity responsible for climate policies and the establishment of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission. As a result, the UN-REDD team devoted time to establishing a working relationship with the new commission.
Gender and Social Inclusion
The UN-REDD Programme’s contribution to the Institutional Strengthening of Forest Sector Development programme, funded by Sida, has centred around the inclusion of processes and mechanisms for implementing the project with an emphasis on gender and social inclusion policies. Priority was given to women’s engagement in training for skill-enhancement activities. The collection and monitoring of data disaggregated by sex has been proposed for the project’s design and implementation.
The proposed tools in the capacity-building framework included a land- use planner, which can be used to develop rural land-use scenarios and relay the information to representatives from national and subnational governments, the private sector, CSOs and local communities so that all are actively involved in land-use decision-making.
Partnerships
There was close cooperation throughout 2018 with the World Bank on the design of the multi-sector programme and how it could coordinate with the World Bank’s existing investment programmes, including the Oromia Forested Landscape Program. Discussions were also held with the European Commission and the Global Green Growth Institute, among others.
Linkages to SDGs
The support from UN-REDD focuses on many of the SDGs, particularly SDGs 13 and 15.