UN-REDD furthered synergies and joint work with the UNDP NDC Support Programme (NDC-SP) and the NDC Partnership, supporting the inclusion and enhancement of forest and land-use action as part of “nature-based solutions” in the NDCs and broader SDG agenda.
UN-REDD, in support of and in close collaboration with the NDC-SP, has been helping pilot integrated support for NDC implementation, with a focus on Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire and Ecuador, providing country-level stakeholders with inputs and guidance on how to integrate forests into NDCs. A technical cooperation initiative on the preparation of the Ecuador NDC (AFOLU) and related reporting tools started in early 2018, through a joint initiative between UNDP and FAO.
Building on collaborative processes under the NDC Partnership and the UNDP NDC Support Programme, UN-REDD advisers reviewed and provided inputs to several countries on their NDC implementation plans and NDC partnership plans, helping enhance the linkages between REDD+ strategies and the overall NDC plans.
UN-REDD also contributed inputs on the role of forests within the broader focus of the Agriculture, Food Security and Land Use Thematic Working Group of the NDC Partnership. This included providing knowledge and fostering exchanges with countries during interactive exercises on NDC support for the agricultural sectors, as part of the second meeting of this working group (Rome, March 2018). UN-REDD is participating in the Steering Committee of the Low Emission Development Strategy Global Platform AFOLU Working Group, contributing inputs to support regional communities in practices related to the role of AFOLU in low emission development strategies (LEDS) and NDCs.
UN-REDD provided knowledge in several other key global and regional meetings, including:
- A “marketplace” session on REDD+ and transparency at the second Technical Workshop of the Global Coordination Platform on the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) (Berlin, April 2018).
- A panel discussion on REDD+ and NDCs and peatland management at the third Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (Yogyakarta, Indonesia, April 2018).
- A session, including an interactive exercise referred to as “Broader context of REDD+ results” which included a focus on the linkage between NDCs and REDD+, at the Asia-Pacific Regional Knowledge Exchange on Forest Reference (Emission) Levels, in Dehra Dun, India in September 2018
In addition, UN-REDD developed an analysis of the implications of the Article 6 negotiations emerging during 2018 on REDD+, including in-person tracking of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) discussions on the topic at the Bonn and Bangkok UNFCCC sessions (May and September 2018), and drafting of an information brief on the topic. The draft brief provided a foundation for a session at the second REDD+ Executive Board Meeting (18–19 October 2018) entitled REDD+ and Cooperative Approaches in Support of NDCs.
The session presented potential opportunities for enhancing the role of REDD+ and contributing to increased ambition in NDCs in the context of Article 6. During the session, Board Members confirmed this knowledge work stream as being particularly useful for countries and called for more of this type of technical assistance related both to REDD+ in the context of NDCs as well as Article 6. They requested that this be made available at the country level.
Finally, UN-REDD was active at COP24, organizing and participating in many dialogues and events that reinforced the important role of forests and REDD+ in the context of NDCs and SDGs. For example, UN-REDD contributed to the development of an NDC Partnership event on the synergies between NDCs and SDGs: “Scaling up support to link NDC and SDG implementation”.