UN-REDD – QUICK OVERVIEWUN-REDD – QUICK OVERVIEW

The UN-REDD Programme. What it is?

Since part of you may not have heard about the UN-REDD Programme, I have thought it could be useful to summarize its most important points:

•The UN-REDD Programme is the United Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in developing countries, 3 Agencies participate: FAO, UNDP and UNEP.

•It is a mechanism to create an incentive for developing countries to protect, and wisely use their forest, contributing to fight against climate change.

•It wants to prove that forests are more valuable standing than cut down because of the financial value for the carbon dioxide stored in trees.

•REDD involves developed countries paying developing countries carbon offsets for their standing forests.

UN-REDD design and formulation.

1) The UN-REDD Policy Board (PB), made of staff seconded by the 3 Agencies, invites countries to submit proposals for Country Programmes, if financial resources are available. The PB selects countries to invite based on three criteria:

• Space for contribution of UN-REDD to a national REDD+ strategy (avoid duplication of work)

• Ability of UN agencies to operate effectively (including government commitment and governance context)

• Potential for REDD+ (potential for emission reductions from the forest sector)

2) The country develops its proposal based on a template -Readiness Preparation Proposal– (R-PP), created by the UN-REDD agencies and the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The R-PP covers all aspects of REDD+ Readiness, which may go beyond the areas for which it seeks UN-REDD support. 

 

UN-REDD design and formulation

3) The R-PP is:• assessed by a Technical Advisory Panel (TAP), • revised and approved by the PB.

4) Once the R-PP has been approved, the country officially becomes the host of a UN-REDD Country Programme.

5) The PB then requests the country to submit a National Programme Document (NPD), which clarifies for which parts of the R-PP the country requests UN-REDD support. This includes a full budget for the Programme cycle, according to a given template.

6) The NPD and R-PP are then submitted together by the UNRC, along with a request for the first tranche of funds, to the UN-REDD Secretariat.

Tips for an effective formulation

The NPD indicates all the activities that will be developed by the 3 agencies. For a smooth approval of the project under FAO responsibility, it is suggested to prepare an “addendum” to complete the NPD, in which the following points are covered:

• Clear description of the activities and responsibilities under FAO• A result based budget covering all the outputs under FAO• A list of the inputs to be provided by the Donor and the Government with related technical specifications• TORs of all project staff and consultants• Logframe• Clear description of the implementation arrangements• Reporting requirements• The work plan

Budget

• Budget elaboration: agencies break down the results framework by identifying which outputs fall within their core work areas. Country, agencies staff and national government reps, estimate the costs for each output, and arrive at the final budget proposal through negotiation.

• UNDP, as the Administrative Agent, takes 1% of the administered funds, while FAO receives 7% of the budget to cover its Indirect Costs. Project formulator must identify the missing 6% as “direct costs” to make up for the normal PSC at 13%

• The 6% includes all costs that the FAOR considers necessary to deliver the administrative and operational support (AOS) to the project without detracting capacity from the Rprog. activities.

• This can translate into budgeting for a post of GS, NPO or consultant, or provision to reimburse staff time (through secondment reports) of the FAORep and other office staff.

Reporting

As per the MoU, FAO will provide UNDP with the following statements and reports prepared in accordance with the accounting and reporting procedures applicable to FAO:

• Annual narrative progress reports, to be provided on 31/03• Annual financial statements and reports as of 31/12 by

30/04;• Final narrative reports by 30/04 of the year following the

financial closing of the Fund. • Certified financial statements and financial reports after the

programme NTE to be provided not later than 6 months (30/06) of the year following the financial closing of the Fund.

UN-REDD - FACT SHEET• 44 partner countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America

and the Caribbean• More than 3,300 REDD+ practitioners trained since 2010 in UN-

REDD Programme regional and global capacity building events on MRV, governance, gender, transparency and accountability, stakeholder engagement, multiple benefits and green economy scenario analysis

• 99% of donor contributions already allocated to support partner countries through UN-REDD National and Global Programmes

• 950+ members of unredd.net, the UN-REDD Programme’s online community of practice

• 1 million+ monthly website hits on un-redd.org • 16 partner countries with approved funding for UN-REDD National

Programmes• US$118.9 million in donor contributions from Denmark, Japan,

Norway and Spain• 34% of the world’s forests and 56% of the world’s tropical forests

are located in UN-REDD Programme partner countries

Thank youThank you