Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF)

Summary

The Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF) programme is a five year, $20 million dollar programme, engaging regional governments, forestry and climate mitigation specialists and universities in technical capacity building focused on REDD+. The programme also focuses on policy and market incentives for improved forest management and land-use planning, develops innovative sub-national interventions, and strengthens regional mechanisms for sharing lessons learned and scaling up innovation.

LEAF employs a regional approach to meet this goal by implementing and/or supporting sub-national interventions in six countries (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia) and sharing lessons learned and best practices to scale-up innovation in and/or from potentially six other countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines). Specific program activities are designed to meet four primary objectives:

1. Replicate and scale-up innovation through regional platforms and partnerships,

2. Assist in the development of policy and market incentives for GHG reductions,

3. Build and institutionalize technical capacity for economic valuation of forest ecosystem services and monitoring changes in forest carbon stocks, and

4. Demonstrate innovation in sustainable land management.

Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development (Winrock International) is the prime implementing partner for the LEAF program. Winrock is a world leader in forest carbon and ecosystem science, providing training and capacity building services across the globe. SNV–Netherlands Development Organization, Climate Focus and RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests are partners of Winrock. SNV is recognized for its expertise in community forestry, rural development, and local renewable energy. Climate Focus is a leader in climate policy development. RECOFTC is recognized for its leadership in training and capacity building related to forestry and climate change.

LEAF is funded by the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA).