Country Director Elena Tischenko's remarks at at Cambodia's UN-REDD national programme workshop

It is my privilege to be here this morning to participate in the opening session of the Cambodia UN-REDD National Programme Inception Workshop and welcome all distinguished participants.

The UN-REDD Programme, as the global initiative, is the United Nations Collaborative approach to help Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), which builds on the collective convening power and expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Programme assists developing countries to prepare and implement their national REDD+ strategies and mechanisms to improve forest governance and access carbon credit markets. UN-REDD Programme was launched in September 2008, with funding from Norway.  Since then, Denmark, Spain, Japan and European Commission have contributed funds, and Norway continues to be the programme’s largest donor, globally.

When we look at the situation with deforestation and forest degradation globally, these processes account for nearly 20% of global emissions of greenhouse gases, which is more than the transportation sector and second only to the energy sector. In the context of the Asia-Pacific region, between 2000 and 2005, one third of global natural forest loss occurred in Asia, and, as a result, Asia-Pacific is now a major source of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation in our region include plantation crops, illegal logging, shifting cultivation, mining and infrastructure development.

Deforestation and forest degradation do not only contribute to climate change but also have adverse effects on livelihoods of people who depend on food, water, fiber and other services from forests, as well as on the region’s rich biodiversity. Two-thirds of the world’s poor live in the Asia-Pacific region, and 75% of those poor live in rural areas with high dependency on forest resources. There are between 210 and 260 million indigenous people living in this region, the majority of whom are forest dependent.

To halt these trends of forest loss and forest degradation, the UN-REDD Programme supports countries to protect and sustainably manage their forest assets through helping countries to monetize the stored carbon and create incentives to manage forest responsibly. Such efforts involve preparation and implementation of national REDD+ strategies and mechanisms for measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) of REDD+ performance, securing broad-based stakeholder engagement and ensuring equitable and transparent distribution of benefits.

FAO and UNDP provided funding to support the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC)’s initial involvement in REDD+ readiness, and the government has successfully developed the Cambodia REDD+ Roadmap with participation of stakeholder groups during the period from January to September last year. The Cambodia REDD+ Roadmap is a plan for how the RGC and key stakeholders, including development partners, intend to move forward with REDD+ readiness. Preparation of the Roadmap, involved consultation with development partners, REDD+ project developers, civil society and indigenous people groups in order to arrive at a relevant and nationally-owned document. This preparation process has been seen as a success and used as a good example in several other countries.

The Cambodia UN-REDD Programme has been specifically designed to support the implementation of the Cambodian REDD+ Roadmap.  The national programme document was signed in August 2011. Since then FAO, UNDP, and UNEP have supported the RGC to start up the programme.

Today’s discussions, after the opening session will focus on the scope, approaches, and expected results of the Cambodia UN-REDD National Programme; will examine how the Programme aligns with national policy and national priorities; will help share challenges and opportunities identified by stakeholders, as well as, build synergies in the REDD+ area, and refine the annual work plan of the Programme. I strongly encourage everyone to actively contribute to those discussions and share insights, experience and knowledge that can help us all to have fruitful and constructive dialogue.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

As we mark today an important milestone- Inception workshop- we realize that well-coordinated, effective efforts are required from all key stakeholders, with the lead role of the RGC, for the UN-REDD programme to successfully move forward.  The Cambodia UN-REDD Programme aims to achieve 4 outcomes in the next 2 years, including establishing of national REDD+ readiness management arrangements, building national capacities for the development of the REDD+ strategy and its implementation framework, building subnational REDD+ capacities and implementation of demonstration activities, and support to the development of the monitoring system. It is expected that the inclusive REDD+ strategy will be developed and drive the results-oriented implementation of the programme through an integrated effort of many stakeholders. For example, interventions to reduce emissions need to be integrated with normal socio-economic planning a process, which requires participation of local communities and broader stakeholder involvement.

Another important factor of the future success is capacity for good governance. The Cambodia REDD+ Strategy should include a system to monitor forest-carbon stocks and emissions, as well as benefits and impacts. This means that the Strategy needs to include a governance development plan and enhance capacities for monitoring, law enforcement, and improved forest governance. Effective governance mechanisms and requisite capacities would enable monetization of the carbon stored in forests and creation of incentives for conservation. Benefits will need to be channeled to forest-dependent communities on the principles of equity and transparency.

Lastly it is important that the systems for forest monitoring and measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) be in place to allow transparent and effective monitoring of emissions and carbon stocks. This will provide necessary information to evaluate results from the implementation of forest policies and conservation measures. In addition, the MRV system will help build the trust between the international financing mechanisms and actors in the country and allow comparability, transparency and consistency in managing emission reductions in a globally changing context.
 
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

I am confident that every stakeholder to the programme will help to successfully deliver on the Programme’s goals in the coming years. Once Cambodia is ready for REDD+, REDD+ activities will help not only to conserve carbon, but also to generate co-benefits such as biodiversity conservation, provision of ecosystem services and poverty alleviation. These co-benefits are not automatically guaranteed, but if Cambodia undertakes careful assessments and participatory planning to incorporate the views and aspirations of all stakeholders into the development of the REDD+ Strategy, the benefits from REDD+ will be significant.

I strongly believe that the efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia should be met with success in preparing for REDD+ Programme implementation and we in the United Nations, are committed to supporting and assisting these efforts in close collaboration with key development partners, civil society and private sector. We are also committed to building synergies and coordination with other development partners working in this area, in particular Japan, Danish International Development Agency, WB, international NGOs & other partners.

In conclusion, allow me to express again a warm welcome to all participants and the best wishes for the successful inception and subsequent implementation of the programme.

Thank you!