Since 2019, the EU REDD Facility has been carrying out initiatives to facilitate dialogue between key stakeholders in the sector at the national level. It has also conducted technical analyses and promoted the gathering of information to improve knowledge of the technical and financial challenges facing communities and the sector in implementing community forestry activities.
In 2019, the EU REDD Facility and ONF Andina carried out a study to analyse and propose adjustments to the existing credit lines (and their eligibility criteria) to stimulate sustainable community forest management in Colombia. The study sought to:
- Characterise the economic dimension of the value chain of sustainable community forestry
- Identify financing options
- Provide recommendations for adjustments to the current credit lines
- Propose mechanisms to articulate the credit lines with other financial instruments for sustainable community forest management
The study was shared with the various stakeholders and donors in the sector through the National Technical Roundtable on Community Forestry, led by the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development. This first step enabled the identification of several priority issues to explore further with the other participants of the roundtable. As a second step and as of 2021, dialogue was encouraged, as was the proposal of solutions and mechanisms to facilitate the successful implementation of community forestry to reduce deforestation. One of the first results of this second phase, the EU REDD Facility supported the publication of a catalogue of existing community forestry projects and programmes in Colombia, and an analysis of their characteristics. This provided the basis to build a first database by gathering information from all the national and international entities implementing community forestry programmes in the country.
