The EU REDD Facility’s project in Côte d’Ivoire aims to overcome challenges in forest restoration through participatory land-use planning and securing land tenure. It focuses on developing village-level land-use planning methods to achieve a balance between agriculture and forestry. It also targets the gender-oriented delivery of land certificates on 2500 hectares of forest areas.
The EU REDD Facility moderated an EU side event held during the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Speakers from the EU, Ivorian NGOs and the Facility agreed that the fight against desertification in Côte d’Ivoire is closely linked to the fight against deforestation.
During the event, the EU REDD Facility expert on sustainable land-use policies, Romuald Vaudry, explained how securing land tenure, through the issuance of land certificates, is critical to preserve existing forests and drive the increase of forest cover in the Ivorian rural domain. By becoming owners of the trees, farmers (including women) can safely invest in their land, diversify their production systems, and improve their income. Land use planning and associated spatial planning tools, including down to the village level, are also essential for better land use.
Ivorian civil society representatives showed concrete examples how land certification in the Mé region made it possible to concretely fight deforestation and secure private sector investments, driving reforestation. They also showed how civil society can ensure that private and public actors comply with regulations in force through independent observation.
EU representatives explained how the EU works in partnership with countries in their ecological transition towards sustainability. In this framework, the EU supports Côte d’Ivoire in the development of a national strategy for sustainable cocoa. EFI provides technical support to this process in Côte d’Ivoire, but also in Ghana and Cameroon through the International Partnerships Facility’s Sustainable Cocoa Programme.
The 13th Forest Governance Forum took place in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, from 23-24 May 2022. Following the forest commitments made in 2021 in Glasgow, UK, at 26th United Nations Climate Conference (COP 26), the Forum addressed the intersection of forest governance, the green economy, climate change and land-use planning. The EU REDD Facility engaged and delivered a presentation at a panel on COP26 and the climate action. The Facility also convened and chaired a parallel session on land-use planning and forests.
Fern convened a plenary session titled ‘Building on COP26 to Promote Inclusive and Ambitious Climate Action,’ which was moderated by the Central Africa Forest Initiative (CAFI) Secretary. It aimed to examine progress and gaps in commitments and actions to improve climate governance in the Congo Basin and beyond. It also formulated recommendations so that nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and just and transparent climate finance lead to greater protection of forests and forest peoples’ rights.
In a presentation on ‘Revised NDCs: What’s in it for forests, rights, and livelihoods?’ Jim Djontu and Alice Bisiaux of the EU REDD Facility underlined that the gap between emission reduction pledges and what is needed to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit temperature increase to 1,5 ºC above pre-industrial levels is still significant. In this context, they assessed the progress made in the revised NDCs of some Congo Basin countries, underlying the essential role nature-based solutions can play in addressing the climate challenge. In many cases, NDC pledges related to the forest and land-use sector can still be made more ambitious and specific. In particular, the national climate plans should better address forest governance issues and include quantified tenure and natural resource rights for indigenous peoples and local communities.
Furthermore, although the revision of the NDCs have been carried out through a greater engagement of civil society compared to the 2015 version of these national plans, their recommendations have only been very partially taken into account.
The EU REDD Facility also convened a parallel session on land-use planning and forests, which was chaired by Jim Djontu.
Panellists underlined that the progress made, and the approaches deployed in land-use planning are context-specific. These approaches may be top-down, bottom-up or combined. This influences the dynamics of the process, the achievement of the defined objectives, the emerging lessons and constraints encountered.
The Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon have embarked on ambitious and multi-annual land-use planning processes following differentiated trajectories adapted to their local contexts and realities with the support of international and local partners, such EFI, the CAFI, Initiative Développement and Rainbow Consult.
Land-use planning, and associated tools have been recognised by the administration, development partners, civil society, and the private sector as an essential basis for better land governance, more coherent development planning and the reconciliation of divergent interests in land-use and allocation in the rapidly growing economies of the countries of the sub-region.
The EU REDD Facility and the Mekong Development Research Institute (MDRI) support developing a jurisdictional sustainability framework and an associated monitoring system in Vietnam to promote sustainable land use and coffee production in the Central Highlands. The EU REDD Facility and MDRI are testing tools and approaches on monitoring, land-use planning and finance that support subnational decision making on sustainability.
The EU REDD Facility engages with the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), IDH and WWF in the development of at least two Local Land Use Management and Sustainable Development Plan (PLADDT) at the municipal level.
The Congolese state’s spatial planning strategy is still very centralised and is organised around ministries which have some difficulty in coordinating their reciprocal interventions. In addition, there is a certain disparity in planning tools, the scope of application and linkages of which have not yet been clarified. There is therefore a need to bring together and decompartmentalise approaches in order to promote coordinated regional planning.
With the ambition of developing a sustainable palm oil sector, Congo committed in 2016 to the African Palm Oil Initiative (APOI), this flagship initiative of Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) 2020. The TFA involves 10 countries in West and Central Africa, as well as key palm oil consumers, businesses, traders and producers, civil society, and groups representing local communities and indigenous peoples.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, through its Central Institute for Economic Management, and the EU REDD Facility mapped and analysed planned public investments (2016-2020) in land use in the five provinces of the Central Highlands region. This innovative research looked at the main sources of finance and their role in supporting the objectives of Vietnam’s National REDD+ Action Plan (NRAP).
The EU REDD Facility is working with a multistakeholder coalition to bring more transparency to land-use planning and land-allocation processes in Cameroon. The Facility and its partners have developed a tool called the Common Mapping Platform that enables stakeholders to access social, environmental and geographical data for making informed land-use planning decisions. Partners include representatives of government and civil society, as well as mapping specialists.
Stakeholders in Cameroon are developing the mapping tools they need to make informed and participatory land-use planning decisions through a collaborative project called the Common Mapping Platform.
