Moving REDD+ in the Republic of Congo

The Republic of Congo (RoC) government is preparing to send the country’s revised Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) to the Facility Management Team (FMT) of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) after conducting a national validation workshop in Brazzaville from February 22-23, 2011.

Tropical deforestation contributes between seventeen to twenty percent of the greenhouse gases generated by human activity [1]. Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) schemes initiated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) are considered to be crucial to avoid continuous dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

The REDD+ framework aims at providing compensation to governments, communities, companies or individuals for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation below an established reference level by slowing their rates of deforestation.  The genuine implementation of REDD+ schemes is likely to help reduce carbon emissions, support biodiversity conservation and improve local communities and indigenous peoples’ living conditions by generating incomes for socio-economic development. Several REDD+ initiatives are currently taking place in different countries of the Congo basin region, the world’s second largest tropical forested area after the Amazon. The Republic of Congo (RoC) is part of the region and under REDD+ readiness activities.

Forests in the Republic of Congo

With 22,471,000 hectares of forests, the RoC is second only to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in terms of tropical rainforest coverage among Congo basin countries. The majority of Congolese forests, or about 21.8 million hectares are rain forests and nearly 37% (8,369,760 ha) are flooded almost continuously, providing them a natural protection. Over 80% of the national forest areas are part of the national forest estate, making the state the main forest owner [2]. The Congolese population was estimated at 3.8 million in 2008, which corresponds to an average density of 10.5 persons per km, and the average annual population growth is 3.2%. Despite the fact that almost 60% of the population live in five major cities, most of the population still depend on forests for their basic needs (food, energy, medicine, etc.).Timber exploitation is one of the two main pillows of the Congolese economy. Combine with oil, they contributes to nearly 70% of GDP (PRSP-2007). The forests of the RoC play also play a crucial role in the regulation of the global climate through the sequestration of significant stock of carbon.

Considering the low population density, pressures on forest ecosystems are considered relatively low. It is estimated that the annual deforestation rate is 0.75% (approximately 17 000 hectares), and degradation. The main direct causes of deforestation and forest degradation in order of importance, according to the country’s R-PP are: (i) the unsustainable practice of shifting cultivation, (ii) the production and unsustainable consumption of wood for energy, (iii) logging, and (iv) urban development. These direct causes are exacerbated by many underlying factors, such as the absence of a common vision on land management discussed and validated with all stakeholders, rural poverty, population growth, lack of alternative energy sources suitable for low-income populations, production and inefficient use of charcoal, and weaknesses of the State’s forest governance These underlying factors are expected to significantly exacerbate the country’s rate of deforestation in the future.

 

The REDD+ Process in the Republic of Congo (RoC)

The RoC launched its REDD+ readiness activities in 2008, with the approval of the country’s Readiness Preparation Idea Note (R-PIN) during the same year. Two years later, at the PC6 meeting in Guyana in June 2010 , the country’s Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) was found of sufficient quality to move forward in the process and was approved by the Participants committee sixth (PC6) meeting of the FCPF.

Bank Information Center (BIC) is actively working with Congolese civil society organizations on REDD+ through their platform called “Plateforme pour la Gestion Durable des Forêts” to provide them with the necessary support in advocacy and information access for genuine participation into the REDD+ process.

Like many other countries in the Congo basin region, the RoC is poorly ranked on transparency and governance indexes measuring rule of law, human development, and corruption; which makes the REDD+ process in the country more challenging. In the meanwhile the country adopted a new law late December 2010 that grants indigenous peoples with specific legal protection and promotion of rights. The law is the first in Africa to protect indigenous peoples against discrimination, exploitation and violence. However the effective implementation of this law, which requires a special and concerted effort by the RoC government, remains to be seen.

Prior to the PC6 meeting, several civil society organizations (local and international) complained about the weak consultation process that led to the formulation of the Congolese R-PP, and the lack of coherence and substance in the document. The Congolese Platform for the Sustainable Management of Forests (Plate forme Congolaise pour la Gestion Durable des Forêts), a platform of civil society organizations working on forests and REDD+ sent out a statement denouncing the lack of public participation in the R-PP formulation [4]. On June 24th, 2010, a group of three international NGOs (Rainforest Foundation UK, Greenpeace and Global Witness) released a joint statement for PC-6 recommending that the PC not approve the RoC R-PP.  According to the three NGOs, the RoC R-PP lacked coherence and substance, failed to propose solutions to identified problems, appeared to have been overly influenced by industry with little civil society participation, and if implemented would likely lead to negative impacts on forests, indigenous peoples and local communities [5].

The PC proceeded with a detailed review of the RoC R-PP and noted the following issues: the R-PP needed to directly address drivers of deforestation and distinguish them from underlying causes of deforestation; conduct a capacity analysis of monitoring and evaluation systems (MRV); provide specific attention to indigenous peoples in consultation and participation; conduct more analysis of policies and governance; provide more information on benefit sharing mechanisms; provide a clear analysis of the capacity gap to implement the Strategic Environment and Social Assessment (SESA) and not rely solely on the World Bank; provide data on deforestation and degradation and; involve indigenous peoples in monitoring activities.

While the PC6 meeting found the RoC R-PP of sufficient quality to move forward and approved it, the PC6 resolution, however, requested the government to revise and re-submit the R-PP to the FMT. According to the resolution, the PC requested [6]:

I. Republic of Congo to submit a revised R-PP (Revised R-PP) to the FMT, reflecting the key issues in the summary report prepared by the FMT included in the annex to this resolution;

II. The FMT to check the Revised R-PP for completeness, make it available on the FCPF website and notify the PC and observers of its availability, soliciting written feedback within four weeks.

The revision was specifically requested in order for the country to: enhance multi-stakeholder consultations, including indigenous peoples; better reflect in the R-PP how ongoing or planned developments in other sectors (including mining, agriculture and infrastructure development) are likely to impact deforestation; provide more details on how monitoring of co-benefits would be carried out; provide more in-depth analysis of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, especially industrial logging; articulate more clearly in the R-PP how the analytical studies to be carried out during the readiness phase will address the issues of insecure land tenure, carbon rights and equitable benefit sharing mechanisms.

After the PC6 meeting, the RoC government through the National REDD+ Coordination Office launched in August a period of consultation and reception of contributions from civil society and other stakeholders for the R-PP revision. However difficulties in accessing finances made it challenging for civil society organizations (CSO) to consult around the country and organize their contribution.

Bank Information Center (BIC), and FERN through their Congo Basin Forest Fund Project stepped in and provided support for a two day national consultation workshop for REDD+ CSO’s. The workshop, organized in Brazzaville from October 21-22, 2010 by the “Plateforme Congolaise pour la Gestion Durable des Forêts” aimed to discuss, compile and validate CSO’s contributions to the revised R-PP. The document produced after the workshop (in French) is attached here. Capturing what CSO’s want to see in the revised R-PP, the document was formally submitted to the National REDD Coordination Office on February 9th, 2011. The National REDD Coordination in its part led the organization of three consultation missions in three different cities throughout the country (Dolisie, Impfondo and Sibiti), to collect contributions from different stakeholders, with a representative from CSO’s taking part in each one of the three missions.

In the midst of this challenging process, the RoC R-PP is being revised by the National REDD Coordination Office, hopefully incorporating contributions from various actors. A national validation workshop of the revised R-PP was organized in Brazzaville from February 22-23rd, 2011 by the government. Discussions during this validation workshop focused on a June 2010 version of the R-PP, not the final revised version of the R-PP. CSO representatives participated in the workshop with various other international and local actors, and expressed enthusiasm about the incorporation of their considerations into the new R-PP. The National REDD Coordination Office is finalizing the incorporation and harmonization of contributions and comments to produce the final version of the revised R-PP, which will be submitted to the FMT in a few weeks, and at that point will be made available to PC members and observers for written comments.

Notes

1. P. Kipalu. The Republic of Congo’s REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal Creates Controversy. Bank Information Center (BIC). 2010
2. Republic of Congo, Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP). 2010, p.7-9.
3. A. Kemen, F. Stolle & S. Elmore. Preparing for REDD in the Republic of Congo. World Resources Institute. 2010
4. Plateforme Congolaise pour la Gestion Durable des Forêts. (2010). Note de contribution de la société civile par rapport à la préparation du R-PP en République du Congo, Brazzaville, 10 Juin 2010.
5. Rainforest Foundation UK, Greenpeace and Global Witness. Readiness Preparation Proposal (RPP) for the Republic of Congo: A joint statement from Rainforest Foundation UK, Greenpeace and Global Witness. 24 June 2010.
6. Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), Sixth Participants Committee Meeting, Resolution PC/6/2010/3. Republic of Congo’s Readiness Preparation Proposal. Georgetown, June 28-July 1, 2010