Forest Carbon, Markets and Communities (FCMC) Program Program Background December 2013

U.S. Government REDD+ Initiatives The USG pledged $1 billion in “fast start financing” for to assist countries to develop and implement REDD+ o Resources should contribute to sustainable livelihoods, protect biodiversity and respect the rights of indigenous peoples, women, the poor and vulnerable populations USAID leads USG’s implementation of REDD+ activities, funded through the Sustainable Landscapes pillar of its global climate change program o USAID launched the Forest Carbon, Markets and Communities (FCMC) Program to assist missions, partner governments and international stakeholders in developing and implementing integrated REDD+ initiatives

USAID Climate Change & Development Strategy USAID developed a climate change strategy which was released in January 2012.

FCMC Program FCMC builds technical capacity by developing tools and training that support USG contributions to the international REDD+ architecture, and supports country-level readiness FCMC encompasses four technical task areas: Social and Environmental Soundness (SES) Forest Carbon Markets (FCM) Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Low Emissions Development Strategy (LEDS) FCMC later added a fifth task area Cross-cutting and Coordination to assist with activities that do not fall specifically within a particular task area FCMC is implemented by Tetra Tech, with core partners including: Conservation International, Terra Global Capital, Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, and World Resources Institute

Core Services Analysis and evaluation Tools and guidance for program design support Meeting and workshop facilitation at local, national and international levels Regional trainings and training materials Photo credit: Bruce Cabarle, WWF

Social and Environmental Soundness (SES) Task Goal: promote policies, tools and best practices that ensure feasibility and compatibility of REDD+ developments with local cultural, socio-economic and environmental conditions Key elements include: o Social and environmental safeguards, standards and safeguard information systems o Social and environmental impact assessments, benefits and costs o Stakeholder engagement, rights and benefit-sharing o Information sharing, transparency and governance Support to both biological and social diversity issues (including indigenous people and gender issues) SES supports participation of various stakeholders, including indigenous peoples, women, the poor, vulnerable groups, and other key stakeholders, such as the private sector

SES: Key Achievements and Upcoming Activities Recently released reports including reviews of stakeholder engagement experiences for REDD+ and social assessment and evaluation methods; upcoming reports include lessons learned from community forestry in Latin America, Africa and Asia and issues in legal literacy and advocacy related to REDD+ SES training held in Bangkok, Thailand in November, 2012; two more regional trainings planned for 2014 in Latin America and Africa Supported government of Honduras in preparing their national REDD+ safeguards

Finance and Carbon Markets (FCM) Task Goal: support public and private finance for REDD+, with a focus on markets Key elements include: o Development of international architecture for REDD+ finance, including carbon markets, other market mechanisms, access to and deployment of public and private finance o Countries’ financial readiness for REDD+, including access to market mechanisms and other options to engage public and private finance o Other financial products that support finance for REDD+ activities REDD+ needs both public and private sources of finance to support REDD+ readiness, implementation, and results-based payments – this includes use of market mechanisms to engage private capital

FCM : Key Achievements and Upcoming Activities Analysis of Colombia’s REDD+ finance and carbon markets readiness released in Spanish and English; follow-on work is currently underway Support for USAID’s Development Credit Authority in the development of a loan guarantee product for carbon offset projects Technical support to the FCPF’s Carbon Fund to advance their framework used to quantify emission reductions and removals Development of a guidance document for jurisdictional and nested REDD+ accounting for the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Upcoming support to Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 on deforestation-free commodity supply chains Assistance for the REDD Desk to expand their website to include new information on REDD+ markets and standards

Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Task Goal: enhance shared understanding and technical capacity to design and implement sustainable MRV systems for both forest and land use GHG emissions Key elements include: o Increase knowledge at the international level and among USAID staff and partners o Direct contributions to development of MRV systems in select countries o Coordination with other existing USG efforts (mainly via SilvaCarbon) o Workshops on information exchange and capacity building o Development of a manual on MRV guidance and online MRV training resources

MRV: Key Achievements and Upcoming Activities Completion of first version of a MRV Manual that provides detailed guidance to national governments on technical and organizational needs for developing a national MRV system; planning underway for second version MRV technical capacity workshop series hosted by SilvaCarbon, FCMC and other partners in South and Central America Capacity building and co-implementation of a forest-monitoring system in Peru Capacity building and support for establishing emissions reference level scenarios and building a community-based MRV program in Colombia Spanish translation of online training materials from the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute

Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) Task Goal: develop tools and methodologies that support and engage stakeholders in cross- sector planning and decision-making, ensuring that land use sectors integrate concepts of mitigation and adaption in national LEDS strategies

LEDS: Key Achievements and Upcoming Activities Two main LEDS activities in Colombia and Guatemala Support to region of Huila, Colombia to develop a Climate Change Action Plan; workshops held to catalyze stakeholder involvement An assessment of Guatemala’s technical and planning capacity to implement LEDS completed as part of Phase 1 of the activity; next steps include capacity building for developing a greenhouse gas inventory

Cross-Cutting Issues and Coordination Task Goal: foster collaboration across technical fields of REDD+ to ensure integration and value addition among the focal areas of FCMC

Cross Cutting Issues: Key Achievements and Upcoming Activities Support for the Alliance for Global REDD+ Capacity (AGRC); upcoming REDD+ competencies framework Advancement of a regreening analysis for agro-forestry/tree planting projects in East Africa Study on shifting cultivation, gender, and REDD+ in West and Central Africa ongoing Planning underway for workshop on mangroves and REDD+ in West Africa

Communications Evolution of FCMC’s communications efforts o Communications strategy FCMC logo and website Branding/USAID standards USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) Supporting documents/Warsaw example

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