The Federal Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) in collaboration with the Punjab Forest Department, ICIMOD and World Wide Funds for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-F) organised a two-day provincial level consultation workshop on 'REDD+ and roadmap development process', which concluded here on Tuesday.
The main aim of this workshop was to sensitise and enhance capacities of the relevant stakeholders in the context of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries). The event was attended by more than 50 participants, including representatives from Punjab Forest Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Punjab, academia, civil society organisations and other government agencies.
REDD is an incentive based global mechanism designed to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change caused by anthropogenic activities. The REDD+ programme is a voluntary, national-level strategy designed to access financial incentives through a future international climate change mitigation agreement under the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in return for demonstrated, verified reductions in net greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions resulting from land use change and forestry sectors.
The workshop included sessions on various topics on REDD+ and its implementation in Pakistan. The discussion sessions were very interactive and the participants came up with a set of recommendations towards initiation of REDD+ in Punjab. These include selection of potential forests, identification of gap areas for future research and capacities building of professionals.
The workshop was part of the REDD+ Preparedness Phase Project, which is a joint initiative of the MoCC, ICIMOD and WWF-P, and is supported by One UN Joint Programme on Environment (JPE). The project has already conducted district, provincial and national level workshops with the purpose to sensitise, raise awareness and build capacities of relevant stakeholders in the context of REDD+ and consult on the roadmap development process.