On June 24th, the Government of Lao PDR hosted a ceremony in Vang Vieng town, central Lao, to mark the closing of the FCPF Readiness grant. The event was chaired by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Dr. Thongphat Vongmany, and brought together representatives from the Department of Finance, the REDD+ office, seven provincial departments, as well as representatives of the World Bank to celebrate the transition from REDD+ Readiness to implementation.
Collaboration with the FCPF on REDD+ Readiness dates to 2008, aiming to help put in place the building blocks for implementing successful a REDD+ program. This included designing national REDD+ strategies, developing reference emission levels, designing measurement, reporting, and verification systems, and setting up national REDD+ management arrangements, including robust environmental and social safeguards. FCPF readiness support to Lao PDR totaled US$8.375 million through three preparation grants (US$200,000 in 2009 and US$3.6 million in 2014, with an additional $4.575 million awarded in 2018).
The successful Readiness program in Lao PDR led to the signing of an Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the FCPF in December 2020 for the country’s first jurisdictional REDD+ program. Under the agreement Lao PDR will receive up to $42 million for verified reductions of up to 8.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the north of the country. Running to 2025 and entitled “Governance, Forest Landscapes and Livelihoods – Northern Laos (GFLL)”, the program aims to address the drivers and underlying causes of forest loss in six provinces (Houaphanh, Luang Prabang, Oudomxay, Luang Namtha, Bokeo, Xayabouly), encompassing a third of national territory. The GFLL is expected to make a significant contribution towards the achievement of Lao PDR’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The country’s NDC centers around actions to be taken in the forestry sector and targets an estimated removal of 45 million tons of carbon from forests and increasing forest cover to 70% of land area by 2030.
While reflecting on the progress made towards REDD+ implementation – which include most recently the approval of the National REDD+ Strategy and National Forest Monitoring Framework in late 2021 - attendees also took stock the challenges they experienced, and how they might address these going forward with the ERPA program. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic presented a significant challenge for all agencies, complicating consultation procedures and delaying planned activities. Attendees also identified several challenges that could be addressed in the future with further training and capacity building efforts, such as a shortage of national REDD+ experts, as well as navigating complex legislative and operational frameworks.
In his address to attendees, Deputy Minister Vongmany congratulated everyone involved in the successful completion of the readiness grant activities and urged them to share this news at the central and province levels. Setting the scene for the next phase of REDD+, the Deputy Minister highlighted the importance of continuing to focus on enhancing community participation in forest protection and conservation, paying particular attention to northern provinces, where there are still powerful drivers of forestation and forest degradation. Finally, he recommended that Lao officials could find support on technical issues by continuing to build connections with the international REDD+ community.