Mozambique has become the first country to receive payments from the FCPF Carbon Fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This is a significant milestone for Mozambique, the FCPF, and for REDD+ as this is the first-ever payment for jurisdictional REDD+ certified emission reductions in the world.

Read World Bank blog: "Results-based climate finance boosts sustainable forest conservation in Mozambique" -- by Africa Olojoba and Karin Kaechele

Guatemala has signed an Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the FCPF Carbon Fund that will unlock up to US$52.5 million for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and increasing carbon sequestration.

Guatemala is the fourth country in Latin America (after Chile, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic) and the 15th worldwide to sign an ERPA with the FCPF. Together, these agreements commit over US$720 million for nearly 145 million tons of carbon emissions reduced through 2025.

Ethiopia has become the first ISFL country to have its jurisdictional Emission Reductions Program Document independently assessed and validated. This validation allows the country to begin negotiations toward signing an Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement with the World Bank, which will kick-off the implementation of its Emission Reductions Program.

The independent assessment by SCS Global Services throughout 2020-2021 found Ethiopia’s program to be accurate and comprehensive, and commended the government and its partners for their flexibility and persistence during a challenging assessment period that took place amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read SCS's assessment report of Ethiopia’s Emission Reductions Program.

Nigeria recently launched a National REDD+ Strategy that will guide the implementation of new approaches to curb deforestation and reduce forest-related emissions that contribute to climate change.

Entitled “Toward a holistic approach to sustainable development - A Guide to Integrated Land Use Initiatives”, ISFL’s report takes stock of a variety of best practices and lessons learned from more than 150 integrated land-use initiatives implemented around the world.

The goal of this study is to facilitate knowledge sharing, and provide a guide for practitioners who are looking to implement integrated land-use approaches or make existing initiatives more holistic.

In September, the ISFL and FCPF launched an innovative Sustainable Agricultural Banking Program. This five-week training course brought together practitioners from financial institutions from around the Africa region to make the business case for increasing access to finance for sustainable agriculture.

During the 2021 Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) Plenary in September, the FCPF hosted a virtual side event looking at the importance of in-situ (on-site) data when estimating carbon stocks. Presentations underscored the need for extensive in-situ data collection to implement new generation remote sensing-based methods and discussed strategies to make this a reality.

Working with international civil society organization, Solidaridad, the ISFL program in Ethiopia’s Oromia region is kicking off work to explore how climate-smart dairy supply chains can help increase productivity and farmer’s access to market, while reducing deforestation and land degradation.

The overall aim of Ethiopia’s Oromia Forested Landscape Program is to improve sustainable forest management, and lower emissions from land use, including from the livestock sector, by encouraging better herd management.

Read more on the Oromia Forested Landscape Program

The World Bank recently published a guidance manual for policymakers working on how to create a common accounting system to integrate smaller REDD+ projects into larger-scale, national or sub-national REDD+ programs – an approach commonly referred to as ‘REDD+ nesting’.

The manual provides guidance for the design and implementation of nested systems, along with an accompanying decision support tool. The manual aims to guide decision makers through the process of planning, identifying, and implementing efficient nested REDD+ systems.

Last month, the latest session of the FCPF’s 10-month Cocoa and Forest Knowledge Exchange Program focused on how effective networking can help to build a common global vision for sustainable cocoa production.

The Cocoa and Forest Knowledge Exchange Program is a roundtable forum that has brought together throughout 2021 leading cocoa producers from Africa and Latin America to share best practices, present viable cocoa agroforestry models, improve the sustainability of their production, and reduce deforestation. In the coming months, the program is aiming to launch a global cocoa agroforestry guide.

Watch the video series showcasing examples of sustainable cocoa best practices in Africa and Latin America.

Learn more about the Cocoa and Forest Knowledge Exchange Program.

The ISFL recently released its 2021 annual report, highlighting the progress achieved to-date by ISFL's five jurisdictional, integrated land-use pilot programs.

The FCPF's next Participants Committee and Assembly meetings (PC30/PA14) are set to take place virtually, starting December 14, 2021.

The next FCPF Carbon Fund meeting (CF24) will also happen virtually, starting February 15, 2022. These meetings are open to FCPF participants only.

VIDEO: An overview of Dominican Republic’s National REDD+ Program and Emission Reductions Program (en español)