Context
More than half of Colombia - about 59 million hectares - is covered with forest. However, between 1990 and 2017 Colombia lost about 6.7 million hectares of forest land (twice the size of North Rhine-Westphalia) due to the expansion of agricultural production areas and pastures, illegal drug cultivation and logging, mining and forest fires.
To meet these challenges, the Colombian government is currently developing a national strategy to reduce deforestation and forest degradation (ENREDD+). This strategy is embedded in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the international efforts to establish the REDD+ mechanism. The basic idea of REDD+ is to reward governments and local communities financially for demonstrably reducing deforestation and thus emissions. Reforestation and sustainable forest management also make an important contribution to increasing forest biomass and reducing emissions. This is what the "Plus" stands for.
Goal
The Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development is implementing the national REDD+ strategy.
The approach
The project supports the Colombian Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development in the coordinated and participatory preparation and implementation of the national REDD+ strategy and in preparing the country for the REDD+ mechanism. It promotes communication and cooperation between the actors responsible for forest use and the reduction of deforestation.
In the northern Andes and the Amazon region, the causes of deforestation are analysed. Pilot measures will test how the sustainable use of forests threatened by deforestation and degradation can contribute to the reduction of emissions. In addition, mechanisms for implementing the national REDD+ strategy at regional and local level and the development of the necessary know-how will be promoted.
Together with the Colombian Ministry of the Environment and other actors, the programme is developing guidelines for social and ecological standards, so-called safeguards, which are to be put into practice within the framework of the REDD+ process. These safeguards are intended to prevent negative ecological or social impacts of REDD+ activities. For example, the participation of all stakeholders should be ensured and the rights of the indigenous, Afro-Colombian and rural population protected. Ecological protection mechanisms are necessary to guarantee that REDD+ activities go hand in hand with the protection of natural forests and biological diversity and that emissions do not shift to other regions.
The programme supports the Colombian government in systematically recording and reviewing progress in developing and implementing the national REDD+ strategy and its impacts. The results are used by the Colombian government in international reporting on REDD+ (for example within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
Impacts
With the preparation of the national REDD+strategy and the strategy for controlling deforestation, the project helped to shape the framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forest destruction and reducing them to zero by 2013. Both strategies, which cover a total forest area of 590,000 km², were adopted by the government in 2018 and are currently being implemented. Special attention was paid to the adoption of guidelines for social and ecological standards, so-called Safeguards, and their feasibility. Another strategic milestone was the fact that, with the support of the project, it was possible for the first time to integrate concrete, measurable indicators to limit deforestation into the national development plan (2014-18).
At the regional level, the establishment of "round tables" on forests in five Colombian regions has meant that all social groups are permanently involved in discussions and decisions on forests. Information and recommendations on how to avoid forest fires were regularly disseminated via regional and local radio stations in the Guaviara and Caquetá regions. Around 600,000 people live in these two regions.
With the help of eight projects at village and community level, more than 10,000 ha, embedded in an overal forest area of around 15,000 km² could be managed directly in a sustainable manner and income generated through wood products or through the cultivation of cocoa and high-priced fruits as well as through livestock farming.