Regional highlights of R-PINs Asia Region FCPF Steering Committee Meeting Paris, July 9 and 10, 2008 By FCPF Technical Advisory Panel Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

Asian Countries  4 countries from Asia submitted their R-PINs before May 30 (complete, in English, using latest template)  All of them are considered in the SC meeting:  Lao  Nepal  Vietnam  Vanuatu

Key Observations  Forest deforestation and degradation is an important issue in every country  DD is low in Vanuatu but maintaining the low level is a key issue  Ownership of proposals and government interest is high in every country  Monitoring Systems:  Inventory quality is adequate for land area estimation, but lacks biomass and carbon estimates  REDD Strategy:  Indigenous and community based approaches are a key element in proposed strategies  REDD Infrastructure:  National implementation capacity needs to be strengthened for REDD implementation  Effectiveness of REDD Strategy:  Strategies are unique to circumstances in each country  Most countries recognize need for better governance and forest management, and have proposed building blocks for a sound strategy  International and national displacement (leakage) of emissions remains an important issue.

Monitoring Systems and Reference Scenarios Monitoring Systems and Reference Scenario  Lao and Vietnam have had periodic forest cover inventories  Demonstrate the importance of including forest degradation in the monitoring system  Gross deforestation was highest during the recent years  Need a combination of historic and modeled future scenarios to develop reference scenario  Vanuatu proposes to consider modeling as a basis for building reference scenario  Nepal has an uneven history on monitoring but includes biodiversity measurements in its monitoring system

REDD Strategy  Each of the four countries is committed to develop and implement a biomass and carbon measurement system as part of the REDD strategy  Vietnam and Lao  Have very detailed analysis of the drivers of deforestation and strategies in place.  High political commitment to tackle DD, but effective forest law remains main challenge  Lao recently committed to a more effective law enforcement system  In Nepal, local community management has successfully retarded DD. Institutional setup and experience from this strategy will be a valuable input to the REDD strategy  In Vanuatu, all forests are owned by indigenous communities. REDD strategy will thus include this aspect.

REDD infrastructure for implementing REDD activities  Vietnam and Nepal proposes to install and/or strengthen village, district, and national level groups on REDD. Each has some experience with Payment for Environmental Services (PES) and direct payment schemes  Vanuatu proposes to launch the Vanuatu Carbon Credit Project providing the framework for assessing carbon markets that goes beyond REDD  Lao proposes a sector-based approach, working with industry associations, and provision of financial incentives to local deforesters to arrest DD.

Potential effectiveness of proposed REDD strategies Potential effectiveness of proposed REDD strategies  Each country has its own unique strategy for achieving success, but all require capacity to be developed  In Lao and Vietnam, success will depend on alternative economic opportunities for communities, and reducing forest products demand and illegal logging; and how to deal with degradation  Nepal’s strategy of working explicitly with indigenous communities has a proven basis for success in the hilly areas, but will require its effective transfer to other zones