The first verification of the Zambézia Integrated Landscape Management Program in Mozambique under the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Carbon Fund was recently completed with the verification of 2,040,904 emission reductions resulting from reduced emissions from deforestation.

These will be the first credits to be issued under the FCPF and paid by the Carbon Fund, and payments will then be shared via a transparent and robust benefit-sharing plan. 

Verification was conducted by the validation and verification body ASTER Global, in accordance with a robust standard for validation and verification that the World Bank developed with the support of Climate Focus and later implemented with the support of ANSI Accreditation Board. This represented a journey of more than two years to implement a standard of verification that is in line with international best practices and provides sufficient assurance to stakeholders and markets. 

Although verification of emission reductions from REDD+ programs have happened in the past, these occurred as part of results-based mechanisms, as opposed to market-based mechanisms, such as the FCPF Carbon Fund, where the level of environmental integrity and stringency is much higher. This verification is significant because it was conducted by a third-party auditing firm in accordance with an accreditation standard. The subsequent issuance of carbon credits will be transacted in the markets, making this the first-ever accredited verification of jurisdictional REDD+ emission reductions worldwide.

This represents an important milestone that will hopefully chart a new era of verifications, issuance and payments of jurisdictional REDD+ credits under the FCPF and other standards. The ultimate goal is to bring high quality carbon credits and higher environmental integrity to markets, and incentives to local actors to protect and regenerate the world's forests.