GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017

Organizers’ Summary

REDD+ and Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Asian-Pacific Countries

GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017

Organizers’ Summary

Expert Exchange on REDD+ and Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in

Asian-Pacific Countries

Organizers: Till Pistorius, Sabine Reinecke (UNIQUE Forestry and Land Use, Germany), Sebas-

tian Koch, Reinhard Wolf, Agus Suratno (GIZ)

Date: November, 2017

GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017 | Documentation| 3

1 BACKGROUND

REDD+ is an important instrument for many developing countries in the tropics to fulfill their

commitments under the Paris Agreement. Accordingly, various countries have considered it in

their current (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions as to shape the future pathway

for addressing the 2.0°C goal. As REDD+ countries move from readiness to implementation, the

development and operationalization of results-based payments (RBP) programs becomes criti-

cal as well as financial and technical support programs oriented toward facilitating RBP by the

Green Climate Fund, the World Bank (e.g. the Carbon Fund of the FCPF and the BioCarbon

Fund). However, numerous REDD+ countries still depend on bilateral technical support in de-

signing and implementing such programs.

At the same time, with Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) another land-use oriented process

has picked up speed and currently receives high international policy attention – especially

through the Bonn Challenge and related initiatives. Rested in voluntary country and private

sector commitments to restore degraded landscapes at scale, FLR complements but cannot

substitute the ongoing international efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation

under REDD+. FLR may offer an effective way of simultaneously addressing key environmental

and development challenges such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, improving

local livelihoods as well as halting or at least slowing down loss of biodiversity. Although nu-

merous countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia have pledged millions of hectares to restore

forest landscapes within their realms, FLR is still far from being implemented ‘on the ground’

and at scale.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) supports developing coun-

tries in making REDD+ a reality for many years and has also started to provide guidance on

progressing in FLR. Several learning events have been organized by GIZ in the last years espe-

cially through its International Forest Program (IWP) and Early Movers Program (REM). Jointly

with UNIQUE forestry and land use GmbH, SNRD Asia, the ASEAN Program and IWP organized

a “REDD+ Expert Exchange” from 17 to 19 October 2017 specifically targeted at and tailored

for Asian-Pacific countries to discuss “results based payments from REDD+ and the link to FLR”.

More than 30 representatives from Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Lao, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua

New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam met in the heart of Bangkok coming from

academia, multilateral organizations as well as from high level officers in ministries and field

practitioners in Asia. The experience based approach focused on lessons learned and challeng-

es or opportunities in different countries and programs and led to vivid discussions which were

well received by the participants.

The Exchange built on a dual approach where general technical expert inputs, e.g. on multilat-

eral programs for results-based payments from REDD+ (World Bank, Green Climate Fund), key

drivers of deforestation, nationally determined contributions (NDCs), reference levels, govern-

ance and safeguards as well as deforestation free supply chains and the Bonn Challenge (for

FLR), were complemented by practical experiences and insights from a country perspective on

opportunities and challenges of REDD+ implementation and technical requirements. Panel

GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017 | Documentation 4

discussions served to draw essential and common conclusions about the way forward to make

REDD+ RBP and FLR a reality in Asia-Pacific countries in the near future. The workshop’s survey

revealed high satisfaction with the content and structure. Particularly the country-driven dis-

cussions were pointed out as being very interactive and of particular value for learning experi-

ence. Further collaboration between the ASEAN countries, as well as with Latin American and

African partners, on both topics was highly encouraged.

This documentation provides an overview of the major topics covered in this expert exchange

and highlights major insights from the presentations as well as the key challenges raised during

the discussions.

For further information on the Expert Exchange, please contact Agus Suratono (email:

agus.suratno@giz.de). If you would like to revisit contents of specific presentations comple-

mentary to this documentation, all presentations as well as additional material and photos can

be found in the Dropbox folder.

GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017 | Documentation| 5

2 AGENDA AND CONTENT

17 October 2017

Topic Speaker 9:00 Welcome & introduction of the participants Agus Suratno (GIZ Indonesia)

9.30 – 11.00

1. The theory of change of REDD+ and the logic of results based payments (RBP)

2. Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) – How the Bonn Challenge links to REDD+ and NDCs

Heru Prasetyo (Indonesia)

Till Pistorius (Unique)

11.30 – 13.00

Country presentations (15 min each + discussion):

The role of the land use sector, REDD+ and FLR in the Na-

tionally Determined Contributions

Viet Nam (Ms. Kirsten Hegener)

Myanmar (Dr. Yu Ya Aye)

14.30 – 16.00

3. The opportunities for REDD+ and FLR in the Green Climate Fund (video conference)

Juan Chang (GCF)

16.30 –

17.30

“REDD+ and FLR - the approaches from a birds eye view” Reinhard Wolf (GIZ)

(moderated discussion)

17.30-18.30

4. World Bank REDD+ Finance: State and progress of multilateral RBP programs FCPF CF, BioCF including the role of Forest Action Plan – overview and examples

Alex Lotsch (World Bank FCPF)

(video conference)

18 October 2017

9.00 –

10.30

5. Addressing Drivers of Deforestation and Degradation through deforestation free supply chains

Duncan Gromco (Unique)

11.00 –

12.30

The country perspective (15 min each + disc):

How do countries plan to address drivers of Deforestation

and Degradation?

Indonesia (Ms. Endah Tri Kurniawati) Lao PDR (Dr. Kinnalone Pommasack) Cambodia (Mr. Chhun Delux)

14.00 –

15.30

6. Realistic reference levels for REDD+: balancing carrots and additionality (video conference)

Arild Angelsen (Norwegian University

of Life Sciences)

16.00 –

17.00

Panel Discussion

Opportunities and Challenges for RBP programs and les-

sons learnt – why is progress so slow?

Moderator: Till Pistorius

Ms. Vilisi Naivalulevu (Fiji) Dr. Suchitra Changtragoon (Thailand) Ms. Srijana Shrestha (Nepal) Mr. Alfred Rungol (PNG)

19 October 2017

9.00 –

10.30

7. Implementing safeguards, SIS and benefit-sharing systems in in the context of RBP – challenges & ap-proaches

Celina (Kin Yii) Yong (UN-REDD)

11.00 –

12.30

8. Governance at different levels: Enabling conditions for REDD+ and FLR at jurisdictional and national level

Sabine Reinecke (Uni Freiburg)

(moderated discussion)

13.30 –

15.00

The country perspective:

How do REDD+ pilot programs align with national devel-

opment agendas? What are key governance challenges

and how can they be addressed?

Forester Sarah Mae Cabilitazan

(Philippines)

Mr. Jalesi Mateboto (Pacific Islands)

15.30 –

17.00

Panel Discussion

Roles of technical and financial cooperation to support the

implementations of national and jurisdictional REDD+ RBP

systems

Moderator: Sabine Reinecke

Mr. Antonio Jose (Philippines) Mr. Wandojo Siswanto (Indonesia) Dr. Kinnalone Phommasack (Lao) Mr. Reinhard Wolf (GIZ Germany)

17.00 –

17.30

Wrap-up, Outlook & Workshop Evaluation Till Pistorius, Sabine Reinecke and

Agus Suratno

GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017 | Documentation| 6

Content of the Expert Exchange

On day 1, the Exchange started with a warm welcome by Agus Suratno from the GIZ GAP-CC

program on behalf of all hosting organizations, followed by a quick round of introduction of all

participants to voice their expectations about the event.

Dr. Heru Prasetyo, former Head of the

National REDD+ Agency Indonesia, kicked

off the day in respect of contents. In his

presentation he reflected on the future of

REDD+ from a “Theory of change” per-

spective that with the “end in mind” al-

lows actors to map necessary precondi-

tions backwards. Drawing on his long ex-

perience with REDD+ from inside negotia-

tions and practice in Indonesia and reca-

pitulating the opportunities, requirements

and pitfalls he concluded that nothing less but radical change in policies and culture needs to

happen for REDD+ to succeed. Then, Till Pistorius (UNIQUE) introduced the Bonn Challenge

and related processes around Forest Landscape Restoration that draw but also transcend the

international formal processes around UNFCCC, CBD and CCD. Rather than seeing FLR as an

alternative to REDD+ his presentation pinpointed how FLR with its integrated approach can

align singular international policy agendas within a unified national rural development agenda

at scale.

Capitalizing on the expertise among the participants in the room, Ben Vickers (FAO's regional

coordinator for REDD+ initiatives in Bangkok) reported about a UN-REDD regional event one

week earlier on investment planning for REDD+ covering aspects like the mobilization and di-

rection of multilateral, bilateral as well as domestic and private finance for REDD+ readiness

and beyond. He was followed by Kirsten Hegener from Viet Nam who presented the Nationally

Determined Contribution of the country, where the forest sector (second after energy) was

critical for achieving its (conditional) long term targets for 2030. In this context, the protection

of natural forest plays a central role. As Dr. Yu Ya Aye has outlined, the same holds true for the

(I)NDC of the UN-REDD country Myanmar. While still in the REDD Strategy development phase,

though, Myanmar is currently also furthering its FLR efforts through the Myanmar Reforesta-

tion and Rehabilitation Programme (MRRPA) and the GEF funded TRI Initiative (The Restora-

tion Initiative).

After the lunch break Juan Chang from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) clarified the funding op-

tions and modalities for countries as well as other entities under the multilateral fund across

all REDD+ phases – readiness, implementation, and results-based payments. Lively discussions

arose about the availability of funding for forests (as compared to energy) and beyond the

currently earmarked US $ 500 million for RBP for REDD+. This technical session was followed

by a discussion of REDD+ from “a bird’s eye view” and country perspective moderated by

Reinhard Wolf. The group acknowledged that REDD+ brought forests back and high on the

political agenda including topics such as biodiversity, local stakeholders, transparency and ac-

GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017 | Documentation 7

countability. Although the group unanimously relativized the role of RBP for REDD+ for suffi-

ciently incentivizing policy changes alone, co-benefits for humans and nature were highlighted.

Accepting REDD+ as a multi-objective approach with added value for livelihood, biodiversity

and indigenous rights – as pursued under FLR – may eventually considerably propel the desired

transformations in favor of standing forests.

At the end of the workshop day, Alex Lotsch from the World Bank talked about the “state and

progress of multi-lateral results-based payment programs” elaborating in particular on the

(different) the processes, conditionalities and portfolio of existing Forest and Climate Finance

Funds such as FCPF, BioCarbon Fund or FIP (Forest Investment Program) with a combined val-

ue of US $ 2.3 Billion.

Day 2 of the Exchange started with a presentation by Duncan Gromco on the drivers of defor-

estation and degradation. Drawing on the examples of cotton and timber in Zambia and Viet

Nam he discussed the possibilities as well as limitations of business commitments to zero de-

forestation in supply chains. The sec-

ond session of the day focused on how

countries (plan to) address drivers of

Deforestation and Degradation? As the

presentations from Indonesia (Ms. En-

dah Tri Kurniawati), Lao PDR (Dr. Kin-

nalone Pommasack) and Cambodia

(Mr. Chhun Delux) have shown agricul-

ture, especially for cash crop cultivation

especially of oil palm, remains a key

driver of deforestation in all three

countries together with aspects like (il)legal timber extraction, timber plantation expansion or

forest fires as well as mining, settlement or hydropower related interventions which are par-

ticularly important in Lao. Especially through preparing and further implementing REDD+ and

RBP schemes as part of their NDC, the countries intend to deal with the deforestation and

degradation issues more effectively in the near term. In this context enhanced legal frame-

works, forest governance, forest management practices and monitoring were also highlighted.

After that, Arild Angelsen from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences elaborated on ‘realis-

tic reference levels for REDD+’ and pointed to the question of how financial needs of develop-

ing countries may be balanced with the desired additionality of climate actions overall. The day

concluded with a lively panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges for RBP programs

and lessons learned (see section: Discussion)

The third and final day of the REDD+ Expert Exchange was dedicated to safeguards, govern-

ance and international support for making REDD+ RBP a reality. In the morning Celina (Kin Yii)

Yong from the UN-REDD Program carved out the possible approaches, requirements and chal-

lenges in implementing safeguards, safeguard information systems (SIS), summary of infor-

mation (SOI) and benefit-sharing systems in the context of RBP. Her talk provided key insights

and guidance on how safeguards may be practically addressed and respected.

GIZ REDD+ Expert Exchange 2017 | Documentation 8

After that, a moderated session followed on key governance issues at different levels related

to REDD+ and FLR (Moderator: Sabine Reinecke). Participants shared their views about tem-

poral, spatial, political and legal barriers to successful integrative approaches to forest govern-

ance in their realms especially as regards tenure right issues. The second part of the day fur-

ther deepened these discussions from a country perspective. At first, Ms. Forester Sarah Mae

Cabilitazan (Philippines) and Mr. Jalesi Mateboto (on behalf of the Pacific Islands community)

presented their REDD+ pilot programs at different scales and discussed how the programs

aligned with national development agendas. A key focus way on the key governance challeng-

es their country faces and how they were addressed. Land tenure issues, institutional coordi-

nation, law enforcements and technical capacities stood out as major barriers and REDD+ poli-

cies, programs and planning processes were seen as providing an important window of oppor-

tunity for dealing with the pertaining challenges. Second, another panel discussion was held as

to draw major insights from and conclude the workshop (see Section: Discussion).

Discussion

The REDD+ Expert Exchange’s provided ample of opportunities to dive into the topics in an

interactive way significantly drawing on the diverse backgrounds and experiences of the partic-

ipants coming from different countries and institutions which resulted in lively and dynamic

discussions throughout all presentations. The

panel discussions on the Exchange’s second

and third day were dedicated to having the

experts share their experiences and insights

more prominently and to discuss critical ques-

tions on a general level with all participants.

The first panel discussion on day 2, with pan-

elists from Fiji (Vilisi Naivalulevu), Thailand

(Dr. Suchitra Changtragoon), Nepal (Srijana

Shrestha) and Papua New Guinea (Alfred

Rungol) focused on the question what oppor-

tunities and challenges RBP programs held from the countries’ perspective reflecting particu-

larly on why progress remained rather slow regarding implementing REDD+.

On the second panel representatives from the Philippines (Antonio Jose), Indonesia (Wandojo

Siswanto), Lao (Dr. Kinnalone Phommasack) as well as GIZ Germany (Reinhard Wolf) were pre-

sent. At the center of the discussion was the role of international cooperation to support the

implementation of REDD+ and RBP systems as seen from a donor and receiving country per-

spective. All participants in the room were invited to share their major lesson learnt from the

event. The word cloud figure (below) highlights topics of major relevance in the different dis-

cussions of the Exchange.

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