Workshop on step-wise approaches for national forest monitoring and REDD+ MRV capacity development

Wageningen, Netherlands

3-5 September, 2012

A synthesis report:

Mora, B., Herold, M., De Sy., V., Wijaya, A., Verchot, L. and Penman, J. 2012. Capacity development in national forest monitoring: experiences and progress for REDD+. Joint report by CIFOR and GOFC-GOLD. Bogor, Indonesia. is now available on the CIFOR website.

Background

GOFC-GOLD Land Cover Office and the CIFOR Global Comparative Study on REDD organize this workshop in the context of an increasing demand for the development of national forest monitoring capacities in the context of REDD+ Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) and accurate estimation of Green House Gas emissions. This trend is supported by on-going international negotiations at UNFCCC SBSTA on REDD+. During the last SBSTA (in May 2012, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2012/sbsta/eng/l09r01.pdf) the negotiations have highlighted a series of issues that will be further discussed and possibly decided at the next Conference of the Parties (COP) 18 in Doha in Nov./Dec. 2012. Key issues on REDD+ MRV and national forest monitoring includes:

• Consideration on step-wise approach building on existing forest monitoring systems and to incorporate better data for pools and/or gases and to improve methodologies over time
• The need to identify uncertainties and the possible use of conservativeness
• The possibilities of technical assessment of reported data and reference levels

This small expert meeting intends to provide a synthesis of the methodological advancements and recommendations for forest monitoring in the context of REDD+ MRV.

Objectives of the workshop

The main objectives of this meeting are:

1. Discuss the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) REDD+ negotiations and related needs to provide dedicated technical synthesis input.
2. Present, discuss and synthesize experiences from REDD+ Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) and national forest monitoring readiness and capacity development activities.
3. Discuss a framework for step-wise approaches for improving national forest monitoring and REDD+ MRV capacity development, and other urgent REDD+ MRV issues
4. Develop and consolidate ideas for a joint publication (i.e. journal paper, update of GOFC-GOLD Sourcebook, CIFOR policy brief) to be released at the Conference Of Parties (COP-18) in Doha.    

Organizing Committee

Wageningen University, and GOFC-GOLD LC Project Office:
Brice Mora
Martin Herold  

CIFOR:
Lou Verchot
Rosita Go  

Participants

The meeting is set up as a closed expert meeting. The list of invitees is provided in Appendix 1 and consists of the following groups:

• GOFC-GOLD Land Cover implementation team members
• Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
• Intergovernmental institutions (World Bank, FAO, IPCC, UNFCCC, European Commission, ESA)
• National forest monitoring experts (from Brazil, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Norway, Tanzania, Vietnam, Germany)
• Academic institutions (Wageningen U., Colegio de la Frontera Sur, CIGA)
• Other international experts active in REDD+ MRV capacity development (such as Winrock)

Detailed agenda

Individual presentations are expected to last 20 mins and to be followed by questions for 10 mins.

Monday, September 3,  2012
SESSION 1
10.00-10.30	Welcome, workshop objectives		Martin Herold
10.30-11.00	REDD+ MRV and national forest monitoring for REDD+, outcomes of last SBSTA sessions and needs for further input		Jim Penman
11.00-11.30	GOFC-GOLD REDD+ Sourcebook activities (progress and next steps)		Brice Mora
11.30-12.00	Opening discussions		Martin Herold
12.00-13.30      Lunch break
13.30-14.00	Mexico: moving from Approach 1/Tier to one to Approach 3/Tier 3 in 20 years		Bernardus de Jong
14.00-14.30	REDD+ MRV roadmap and its implementation in Guyana		Jagdesh Singh
14.30-15.00	Vietnamese national forest monitoring: progress over the last 10 years		Manh Cuong Pham
15.00-15.30	Reddiness process and MRV capacity development in Indonesia		Ruandha Agung Sugardiman
15.30-16.00      Break
16.00-16.30	Discussions		All
16.30-17.00	Discussions		All
17.00-17.30	Forest Survey India: success factors for operational national forest monitoring		Devendra Pandey
17.30    Closing of first day

Participants List

Name	Affiliation
Frédéric Achard	JRC – European Commission
Jagdesh Singh	Guyana Forestry Commission
Maarten van der Eynden	Norwegian Ministry of the Environment
Sandro Federici	Consultant
Aarti Gupta	WUR
Nancy Harris	Winrock
Martin Herold	WUR / GOFC-GOLD LC
Bernardus de Jong	El Colegio de la Frontera Sur
Kay Kallweit	GIZ
Alex Lotsch	Worldbank FCPF
Erik Lindquist	Food and Agriculture Organization
Brice Mora	WUR / GOFC-GOLD LC
Daniel Murdiyarso	CIFOR
Devendra Pandey	former Director General of Forest Survey of India
Marielos Pena Claros	WUR
Jim Penman	GFOI / IPCC
Manh Cuong Pham	VNForests, Vietnam
Frank-Martin Seifert	European Space Agency
Margaret Skutsch	CIGA, UNAM
Ruandha Agung Sugardiman	Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia
Niki de Sy	WUR
Louis Verchot	CIFOR
Marjanneke Vijge	WUR
Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers	WUR
Arief Wijaya	CIFOR