Financial Performance, National Programme
NS/AP
In 2019, Honduras finalized its national REDD+ strategy (EN-REDD+) and socialized the strategy’s policies, actions and measures with REDD+ stakeholders. To facilitate implementation and responsible monitoring of EN-REDD, a technical profile was developed for a Climate Change Management and Monitoring Unit to operate under the National Directorate of Climate Change.
FREL/FRL
The process of collecting inputs for the FREL was completed and is currently being validated for subsequent formalization. The FREL was also updated for the five REDD + activities, to allow Honduras to be evaluated based on performance and contribution to the mitigation of climate change through action related to forests and subsequently access mechanisms for results-based payments.
NFMS
The National Institute for Forest Conservation and Development, Protected Areas and Wildlife established decree 002-2019 to formalize the information system for forest management and monitoring (SIGMOF) as the official information platform of the Institute and of Honduras. A capacity-building workshop was conducted for the technical staff of the Institute and the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (MiAmbiente+) to ensure proper management of the SIGMOF. The official launch of the SIGMOF and of the map of forest cover for 2018 took place in November 2019.
SIS
The National Committee of Environmental and Social Safeguards of Honduras (CONASASH) carried out dissemination and validation processes for the design and preparation of the SIS, the national focus of safeguards, the consulting protocol methodology of the REDD+ project, the grievance mechanism and conflict management mechanism of the REDD strategy of Honduras (MQRMC), and the cultural safeguards, with the engagement of multiple indigenous organizations, such as the Board of the Lenca Indigenous Peoples Unit of Honduras, the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras, and the School for Equality and Empowerment of Rural Women.
REDD+ Implementation
Honduras undertook many activities and established important guidelines in preparation for REDD+ implementation processes in 2019, including the following documents: EN-REDD+, strategic social evaluation report, environmental and social management framework, analysis of the perceptions of the causes of deforestation, economic analysis of actions for the restoration of productive landscapes in Honduras, national programme for the recovery of goods and services of degraded ecosystems, first summary of safeguards information, cultural safeguards, gender equality and environment strategy, action plan for gender inclusion, guide for the incorporation of the gender perspective in the development of environmental projects, and FRELs.
Challenges and Solutions
Institutional changes in the Secretariat of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment and Mining took place in 2019, causing some delays in the validation processes related to REDD+. To overcome the challenge of those changes, the national programme proposed the establishment of a Climate Change Management and Monitoring Unit under the National Directorate of Climate Change, with the responsibility of carrying out periodic monitoring of climate change mitigation and adaptation indicators in order to comply with international commitments. In order to ensure effective implementation of REDD+ in Honduras, greater coordination is needed to link all the relevant institutions to the Climate Change Management and Monitoring Unit. The establishment of a REDD+ Coordinating Unit, under the National Directorate of Climate Change/MiAmbiente+, is therefore proposed to coordinate and monitor all the actions of REDD+ implementation.
Gender and Social Inclusion
In terms of stakeholder participation, in order to ensure full and effective participation with a genderresponsive approach, under the leadership of MiAmbiente+ and with the support and coordination of the National Women’s Institute, the College of Forest Engineers of Honduras and the management network of the broadleaved forest of Honduras, the following instruments were launched: a gender and environment equality strategy, an action plan for gender inclusion, and a guide for the incorporation of the gender perspective in the development of environmental projects. As a result of those efforts, an institutional workshop was held to promote the empowerment of gender actions targeting the technical staff in all the units of MiAmbiente+, as well as all the staff working on projects being implemented by the project coordination office of MiAmbiente+ and the National Women’s Institute.
Moreover, the REDD+ project interventions were all highly participatory, with indigenous peoples actively participating in the SIS socialization and validation workshops, as well as the cultural safeguard and its mechanism of complaints, claims and conflict management.
Partnerships
As requested by the Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment and Mining and with the support of the National Directorate of Climate Change, a proposal will be prepared for GCF for the funding of two pilot projects arising from work on REDD+. In addition, through the GEF project CONECTA+, a pilot project will be executed to implement the Warsaw Framework locally and with a strong gender focus. In addition, a letter of agreement was signed between the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UNDP for the elaboration of the national programme for the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems, to be finalized in February 2020.
Linkages to SDGs
The national programme is directly related to SDG 13 (climate action). SDG 1 (no poverty) and SDG 15 (life on land) are intrinsic to the national REDD+ strategy, which prioritizes action that produces co-benefits beyond mitigating climate change, such as biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. The institutionalization of the NFMS within the National Institute for Forest Conservation and Development, Protected Areas and Wildlife also contributes to SDG target 15.9. Furthermore, the full and effective participation of women in the project is being actively worked on, as is defining actions that are gender-sensitive, thus aligning with SDG 5 (gender equality).
