Since 2008, UN-REDD has supported 34 countries to advance national REDD+ strategies or action plans in line with the Warsaw Framework for REDD+. A total of 28 countries have finalized and adopted these strategic policies for nature-based emissions reductions. As a result of this catalytic support, partner countries are now actively implementing frameworks to reduce emissions from the forest sector, with Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay all receiving results-based payments for emissions reductions.
In 2019, UN-REDD provided dedicated advice and support to Bangladesh, Honduras, Mongolia and Myanmar in their efforts to define, analyse, consult and adopt their national strategies or action plans for REDD+. In addition, UN-REDD provided support to Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Congo, Peru and Zambia to test sustainable forest management approaches and prepare investment plans to enable the financing and implementation of their REDD+ strategies or action plans (see details below in the section on progress towards REDD+ implementation). In 2019, with UN-REDD support:
- Bangladesh finalized its national REDD+ strategy. Following a period of public comment and a series of consultations with ethnic minorities in 2018, Bangladesh held a first national consultation on the strategy in February 2019, focusing on institutional arrangements and coordination, followed by target-setting workshops in April and a national workshop in May 2019. The final validation workshop for the strategy was held on 29 June 2019.
- Honduras finalized its national REDD+ strategy, including a funding strategy, the strategic social assessment report and its corresponding environmental and social management framework. During the preparation process, the policies, actions and measures of the strategy were socialized by different sectorial stakeholders who are linked to the strategy’s land-use and climate change thematic areas.
- Myanmar’s produced a final draft of its national REDD+ strategy, based on a series of more than 50 consultation events that included representatives of both federal government and ethnic armed organizations, as well as of non-government stakeholders. The updated strategy was presented to participants at a national validation workshop in September 2019 and is in the process of being officially approved.
- Mongolia’s prepared its national REDD+ strategy along with an action plan, results framework and impact assessment. The strategy was approved by the Ministry for the Environment in September 2019.
During REDD+ strategy or action plan development, UN-REDD supports countries to undertake an in-depth analysis of deforestation drivers, applying a participatory approach with stakeholder engagement and the inclusion of the rights of indigenous peoples and forest communities, and embedding capacity-building for Governments and other key stakeholders for REDD+ actions. National strategies or action plans for REDD+ include measures to integrate social and environmental safeguards, in particular transparent governance and gender mainstreaming. UN-REDD also supports the integration of such strategies and actions plans into the land-use and forest sector components of NDCs for climate change mitigation, as well as defining clear paths to ensure that national REDD+ strategies contribute to the SDGs.