Climate Protection through Forest Conservation in Pacific Island Countries

Summary

In response to the recommendations of the 2009 meeting of the Pacific Regional Heads of Forestry Services, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), through it's International Climate Initiative (ICI), approved EUR 4.9 million for this project, to be implemented jointly by SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community), specifically its Land Resources Division (LRD), and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

This regional project covers all SPC member countries, but national activities are being implemented specifically in those countries with the largest forest cover: Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. REDD+ activities in Fiji however are being supported by an existing SPC/GIZ programme: Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region.

By adopting a regional approach, the project attempts to mitigate the risks of leakage between Pacific island countries.  The project has three core components: 1) Support to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) to develop a Pacific Regional REDD+ Policy Framework; 2) Development of a REDD+ information and support platform to serve as an accessible information source on REDD+ and relevant projects in the Pacific region and to facilitate transfer of knowledge and experience on REDD+; and 3) Support to REDD+ readiness at the national level.

Key results achieved to date include the development of the Pacific Islands Regional Policy Framework for REDD+, which was subsequently adopted by forestry and agriculture ministers in September 2012. With regards to supporting national REDD+ readiness, the project is providing assistance to national REDD+ programmes and the central elements of REDD+ capacity building in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The project’s priorities include the development of national forest reference levels/reference emissions levels and associated carbon accounting systems, as well as compliance with social and environmental standards.

In Vanuatu, through this programme, GIZ has been instrumental in driving the development of the Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) for submission to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility of the World Bank.