Climate, Nature and Communities in Guatemala

Summary

Climate Nature and Communities in Guatemala (CNCG) is a five-year USAID programme focused on community development for climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. It was launched in July 2013 and approximately US$5m of its US$25m will fund REDD+ activities. Together with the pending Forest Carbon Partnership Fund (FCPF) grant, the CNCG project form the core of Guatemala’s REDD+ preparation. 

CNCG has five components: (i) supporting rural communities to conserve biodiversity through concessions, market mechanisms and sustainable forest management. This includes support to small and medium enterprises to produce timber and non-timber forest products; (ii) promoting national strategies to reduce deforestation and establish carbon markets, which is the REDD+ component of the project; (iii) building community capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change; (iv) increasing the capacity of national environmental organisations; and (v) supporting the first steps of a national low carbon emissions development strategy (LEDS).

A consortium of different organisations led by Rainforest Alliance (RA) implements CNCG. RA also leads the REDD+ component.

The REDD+ component is in turn divided into three strategies: 

(a) Support the construction of regulatory, institutional, legal and governance frameworks needed for REDD+ implementation. This includes strengthening existing spaces like the Forests, Biodiversity and Climate Change Group (Grupo de Bosques, Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático; GBBCC), the technical working groups that report to it and the National and Regional Roundtables on Climate Change (Mesas Nacional y Regional de Cambio Climático).
(b) Support Government to develop a National MRV system. This piece of work is being led by Valle de Guatemala University with the support of Winrock International and is carried out in coordination with the Interinstitutional Coordination Group (Grupo de Coordinación Interinstitucional; GCI). Activities include: (i) proposing a governance frameowork for MRV; (ii) carrying out the gap analysis on capacities for MRV; (iii) building capacity on MRV; (iv) systematising the lessons learned from the process of the elaboration of the Northern Lowlands (Tierras Bajas del Norte; TBN) subnational reference level; and (v) preparing the Sarstún Motagua subnational reference level.
(c) Channel resources to adaptation and mitigation projects. This includes supporting existing early REDD+ initiatives like REDD+ Caribe, Lago Lachua, Sierra de las Minas and Lacandón and helping Guatecarbon get access to the market. It also includes working with the private sector, (particularly Agexport) to develop a voluntary domestic mechanism that promotes reduction of emissions and helps finance mitigation projects. 

The project will be implemented at the national level and in four regions of Guatemala: (i) Maya Biosphere Reserve, (ii) Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, (iii) Alta Verapaz and Baja Verapaz Departments, and (iv) the Western Highlands (Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán and Quiché departments).