The National REDD+ Coordination (CN-REDD) of the Republic of Congo, together with the UN-REDD Programme, organized a launch workshop for a national study on the potential of REDD+, held 3-4 March 2015 in Brazzaville. On behalf of the UN-REDD Programme, UNEP-WCMC is providing technical support for the design and implementation of the study. Centre staff (Blaise Bodin, Paulus Maukonen, Elina Väänänen and Kerstin Brauneder) took part in the launch workshop and facilitated subsequent training sessions on cost-benefit analysis and mapping of multiple benefits, as part of the UNEP UN-REDD team.

Participants of the launch workshop, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. Photo © Blaise Boden

REDD+ is an initiative under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to provide financial incentives for developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and to conserve, manage and enhance existing forest carbon stocks. While implementing REDD+ has the potential to deliver social and environmental benefits, it also involves considerable costs. Assessing the balance between potential benefits and costs is a key to effective decision-making on options for REDD+. Attended by 30 people, the workshop and training held in the Republic of Congo addressed this issue and helped identify the most relevant strategic options for a cost-benefit analysis as well as potential data sources.

The launch workshop introduced to national stakeholders, including civil society, the three components of the study: (i) mapping of the multiple benefits of REDD+ in the Republic of Congo, (ii) a socio-economic field survey on the value of forest for local communities and market prices of key agricultural and forest commodities, (iii) a cost-benefit analysis of REDD+ options identified by the draft National REDD+ Strategy.

The study will inform the choice of strategic REDD+ options by developing a spreadsheet tool for evaluating the costs and benefits of REDD+ implementation. The mapping and data collection components will feed into this cost-benefit analysis, resulting in a spatially relevant economic evaluation of possible REDD+ strategic options under consideration by the Republic of Congo.

Participants of the cost-benefit analysis training trial an initial version of the spreadsheet tool for evaluating the costs and benefits of REDD+ implementation. Photo © Elina Väänänen

The National REDD+ Coordination explicitly requested that special emphasis be placed on capacity building and participation throughout the preparation and completion of the study. The launch workshop was thus followed by two training sessions. Junior experts from CN-REDD participated in an initial training session on cost-benefit analysis, in anticipation of their involvement in the analysis and associated socio-economic field survey. Representatives of other government bodies, including the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Oil and Gas, also attended the training.

In parallel, mapping experts from the CNIAF (Centre National d’Inventaire et d’Aménagement des ressources Forestières et fauniques) participated in a working session on the mapping of multiple benefits. The session explored a range of issues, including mapping carbon density and stocks, the potential for soil erosion control by forests as well as creating an index of importance for various groups of species.

Technicians from the National Centre for Forest Inventories and Management of the Republic of Congo apply methodologies for spatial analysis of the role of forests in controlling soil erosion. Photo © Blaise Boden

Next steps for the study on the potential of REDD+ in the Republic of Congo include further training sessions on field survey techniques, followed by data collection on the field, as well as the development of the spreadsheet cost-benefit analysis tool.