Innovative and effective approaches to climate change: Experiences from the Global Climate Change Alliance

Brussels 12th-14th September 2012

Summary of main outcomes of discussions

in the « forests » groups

Session 23, day 2, 13 September 2012

Challenges and responses – Afforestation/reforestation projects (1)

Challenges Responses / Success factors

Lack of interest and ownership by local communities=> Projects and results collapse as soon as external financing ends

Work in areas controlled by local communities Projects presented by communities / local

authorities, through NGOs Projects meeting needs and expectations of the

local population Contractual and moral commitment to sustainability Co-financing by local authorities Subsidies to private initiatives (small tools, technical

training) Use of fast growing species (among others) Development of agro-sylvo-pastoral systems that

rapidly produce tangible results Subsidies to private actors and local authorities for

demonstration projects that have a good chance of being replicated

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Challenges Responses / Success factors

Insufficient public resources to maintain and monitor public plantations

Degradation of young plantations due to lack of fencing / monitoring and roaming cattle

Investment in plantations that do not require watering or any significant amount of maintenance

Use of project approaches that create sufficient interest in the local population (see above) to ensure it takes responsibility for monitoring and maintenance

Unclear and/or insecure tenure arrangements

In-depth analysis of tenure-related issues (including social and cultural aspects) before starting projects

Selection of sites where tenure issues have been settled / tenure-related conflicts are unlikely

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Challenges and responses – Afforestation/reforestation projects (2)

Challenges and responses – General issues (1)

Challenges Responses / Success factors

Incorrect / Unreliable reporting on afforested / reforested areas

Setting up of a simple forest information system supporting the monitoring of actual achievements and their evolution an objective basis (public system operated on a transparent basis and open to inputs from non-state actors)

Generally weak capacities

Build on past training and capacity building efforts Make best possible use of available experience

and competences Ensure the capacities of all stakeholders are

strengthened – this is key to the sustainability of interventions

Set up within the GCCA a facility for financing exchange visits across projects

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Challenges and responses – General issues (2)

Challenges Responses / Success factors

Lack of data on forests

Insufficient capacities to collect and manage data

Prioritise data collection and management (incl. forest inventories) in capacity development plans

For information systems, replace older staff with younger people with basic IT skills

Provide TA on a long-term basis – not necessarily on a full-time basis, but allowing for recurrent / periodic support

Rapid staff turnover

“Poaching” of trained officials

Organisation of training on a recurrent basis Contracts with the national administration setting

out training objectives, requiring trained staff to remain in place for at least 2 years following the training

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Challenges and responses – General issues (3)

Challenges Responses/ Success factors

Unclear, unsatisfactory or complex institutional and coordination arrangements

Designation of a single organisation in charge of CC coordination, which can be strengthened to fully play this role

Setting up (by national authorities) of multi-stakeholder consultation frameworks at national and sub-national levels (ensure they meet periodically)

Where satisfactory arrangements exist for management or monitoring (e.g. steering committees) and coordination, fully anchor new interventions into these arrangements rather than creating new, ad hoc ones

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Articulation of programmecomponents: DRC

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Support for CC mainstreaming into the national forest strategy

Capacity building for all stakeholders, with a specific focus

on forest administration staff

Field activities (agroforestry plantations, rehabilitation of

degraded areas)

Ultimately, what matters most is what happens in the field (improvements in living conditions)

Articulation of programmecomponents: Burkina Faso

8

Consolidation of existing data and research findings

Implementation of new research projects (e.g. on MRV

methodologies)

Field activities

Challenges and responses – Specific issues (1)

Challenges Responses / Success factors

Generational transition in public administration, in a context in which the new generation is in fact less well trained and has lower skills than the older one

Massively train new staff, on the job and in the context of higher education programmes

Establish a strong centre of competence in the field of forest- and CC-related training

Develop new skills required for CC adaptation and mitigation

Distribution of benefits of REDD projects

???

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Challenges and responses – Specific issues (2)

Challenges Responses / Success factors

Access to forest carbon credits made difficult by: Lack of a national designated

authority Complex methodologies and

requirements Problems linked to EC financial

procedures (lack of predictability of co-financing amounts)

Concern that the prospect of access to this source of financing leads to the implementation of projects more focused on getting the money than on serving the needs of the population

Giving up the integration of forest carbon credits in afforestation / reforestation projects, and leaving it up to others to assess opportunities and set up pilot projects, is one of the possible responses

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General lessons learned (1)

• Draw as much as possible on lessons learned from past experience

• Strongly anchor interventions in national policies, planning mechanisms and institutions / management structures– Align on and contribute to national priorities, if they are clearly

defined– Integrate with existing programming, management and

monitoring-evaluation frameworks– Where the policy, planning and/or management frameworks are

weak, support their development

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General lessons learned (2)

• Support for existing rather than totally new initiatives is also justified on the basis of some specific features of the GCCA:– Allocation of funding prior to the precise identification of needs– Usually short time available for formulation

• Make best possible use of EC procedures in the choice of implementing modalities– Even if perceived as rigid, procedures sometimes allow for a

certain amount of flexibility (e.g. framework contracts to meet specific and evolving needs of the national administration)

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