Financial Performance, National Programme
NS/AP
The national action plan on forests and climate change (NAPFCC) of Argentina was published in January at the REDD+ Info Hub. The national action plan is considered to be the country’s NDC instrument to address the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector commitment. It was developed based on a deforestation and forest degradation assessment and following a participatory process.
FREL/FRL
FREL for deforestation at the subnational level (four forest regions, accounting for approximately 90 per cent of Argentinian forests) was finalized and submitted to the UNFCCC secretariat in January 2019. The FREL reported is 101,141,848 tCO2 eq for the historical period 2002–2013. The UNFCCC technical assessment was completed satisfactorily, and the technical assessment report was published in November 2019.
NFMS
2019 was particularly relevant for the enhancement of the NFMS of the native forests of Argentina. Thanks to the continuous support of UN-REDD, the country consolidated and further boosted progress with regard to the key pillars of the system:
- Management unit of the forest assessment system.
- Deforestation early warning system.
- Second national inventory of native forests.
- National forest statistics programme.
SIS
Argentina made important progress in its national safeguards approach, completing key safeguards requirements under UNFCCC. The national safeguards interpretation and the SIS design document were finalized and the SIS was made available online. The summary, reporting on how safeguards have been addressed and respected in the period 2014–2019, was submitted to the UNFCCC secretariat. A toolkit for NAPFCC implementation was developed, with guidance on participation; free, prior and informed consent; gender; and planning for social and environmental benefits.
REDD+ IMPLEMENTATION
While the UN-REDD national programme focused on the readiness phase and therefore did not implement REDD+ actions on the ground, it provided support to the country in identifying, calculating and reporting to the secretariat of UNFCCC emissions reductions achieved through other means. Argentina remains committed to implementing actions aimed at reducing emissions and enhancing carbon stocks, the country is continuing REDD+ work through the implementation of an Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) project and is exploring options to secure results-based payments through GCF.
Challenges and Solutions
The main challenges in 2019 were electoral activity and a change of Government. The authorities asked UN-REDD not to organize any high-level workshops or meetings as of July 2019. As a result, the closure of public activities prevented the sharing of several important results, such as the SIS, summary of information and the technical annex of the BUR, which were finalized between September and November 2019. The change of Government in December 2019 also resulted in the rescheduling to the first quarter of 2020 of visits by the UN-REDD technical advisors aimed at informing the new authorities about REDD+ issues.
Gender and Social Inclusion
A draft assessment to integrate gender considerations for the implementation of the NAPFCC of Argentina was developed. This assessment included specific discussions on gender dynamics around REDD+. A tool to integrate gender considerations for NAPFCC implementation was developed in 2019, together with guidance for public servants on how to implement free, prior and informed consent for indigenous peoples, with a view of applying it through REDD+ implementation. These two instruments are part of a set of tools that form the REDD+ SIS of Argentina.
Partnerships
The UN-REDD national programme is being implemented in coordination with the country’s FCPF readiness project. Interaction between the two initiatives is ensuring that efforts are not duplicated, as well as identifying potential complementarities and areas for follow up by the FCPF project once the UN-REDD national programme is closed.
Linkages to SDGs
The UN-REDD national programme of Argentina responds directly to SDG 13 (climate action), while SDG 15 (life on land) is intrinsic to the NAPFCC, which prioritizes actions that give rise to co-benefits beyond just mitigating climate change, such as biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation. The strengthening of NFMS also contributes to SDG target 15.9. Aligning with SDG 5 (gender equality), UN-REDD is actively working to ensure the full and effective participation of women in the country’s REDD+ process.
