Low Emission Development Plans

SNV REDD+Low emissions development plans LEDPs have become a central focus of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries.. SNV’s approach to LEDPs SNV, with partn

A major challenge to the success of REDD+ is how to balance the goals of rural economic growth through agricultural and infrastructure development with better protection and management of forests With the competition for land there is real potential for confl ict and continued deforestation and degradation, unless a balance can be found Introducing more open, integrated and effective planning through the development of Low Emission Development Plans provides a

blueprint for this to be achieved.

SNV Pro-Poor REDD+

L o w E m i s si on

Dev e l op me n t Pl a n s

Participatory Forest

Monitoring

Multiple Benefi ts

Agriculture

Renewable Energy

Benefi t Distribution

Systems

SNV REDD+

Low emissions development plans (LEDPs) have become a central focus of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries The draft decision of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action, agreed

at COP 17 in Durban, ‘’encourages developing country Parties to develop

low-emissions development strategies, recognising the need for fi nancial and technical support by developed country Parties…’’1 The focus of SNV’s support

on LEDPs is in rural areas, looking at the interaction between forest, agriculture and energy sectors Agriculture and forestry activities account for the majority

of emissions in most developing countries, and are also important sources of national income and provide livelihoods for the vast majority of the world’s poor

SNV’s approach to LEDPs

SNV, with partners, has developed an overall framework to help governments

to factor GHG emissions into key sectoral and land use plans in order to meet the dual goals of pro-poor economic development and sustainable land and forest use planning within a chosen sub-national jurisdiction This provides the groundwork for the establishment of a performance based fi nance mechanism Such an approach will help ensure permanence and sustainability Under

each step of the LEDP, tools and guidance are provided to allow the multiple stakeholders to better understand, discuss and agree on activities Community engagement and participation is essential

The LEDP approach is outlined in Figure 1 These steps are not linear LEDPs are

currently being tested through the Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (LEAF) programme, with a focus on forest plans

Case study: The LEAF programme

LEAF is a USAID supported

programme which began in 2011

and is due to be completed in 2016

It is implemented through a consortium of SNV, Winrock International and

Climate Focus, covering six core countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam

Part of the LEAF programme aims to demonstrate innovation in sustainable land management In Vietnam, Provincial REDD+ Action Plans are being

developed with the National REDD+ Offi ce while in Lao PDR LEAF is

considering working at the village level and moving through a

bottom-up approach The ‘top-down’, spatially explicit, work in Vietnam and the

‘bottom-up’ fi eld based approach in Lao PDR provide two opportunities

to evaluate both the development and outcomes of LEDPs on balancing

social, economic and environmental needs (as measured through carbon

emissions) at a sub-national level

Baseline

LEDP Plans

Implementation

MRV

Finance

The scoping will require compilation of current socio-economic development/ sectoral and land use plans, as well as tenure arrangements, to identify key intervention opportunities for the integration of emissions This could be at

the level of the district, province, forest management unit, community etc A stakeholder analysis will need to be carried out to assess stakeholder’s rights

in land use planning, their responsibilities and their returns (or incentives) and capacity for incorporating carbon into sub-national land use planning processes

The baseline is produced by examining historical landscape change

Jurisdictional Reference Emission Levels (REL/RLs) are established using

historical data to project future forest and land use change, incorporating threat analysis and forward looking land use and sector plans The drivers and those responsible (the ‘actors’) for deforestation and forest degradation must be clearly identifi ed Consideration must be made of how this sub-national REL can be nested both vertically, into national emission reduction targets, and horizontally, with other sectors

Design of Low Emission Development Plans to ensure ‘Business As Usual’ is not followed Different scenarios which meet socio-economic development and environmental (including emission reduction) targets will be examined There needs to be wide stakeholder consultation Appropriate environmental and social safeguards need to be integrated and benefi t distribution systems designed

LEDP implementation could include a range of activities such as better land and forest use zoning, forest protection and reforestation development, agricultural intensifi cation and production Efforts will focus on introducing activities that satisfy the needs of the multiple stakeholders across the landscape in a low GHG emissions pathway

A robust MRV system must be in place to measure changes in GHG emissions, ultimately to be able to link to a performance-based fi nance mechanism Any MRV system must be compatible with UNFCCC requirements SNV is examining the use of different measuring options, as well as the use of non-carbon

performance measures and the role of communities in data collection

REDD+ implementation needs to be linked to secure and long term fi nancing Different funding options need to be examined in collaboration with stakeholders,

in particular through the various REDD+ carbon funds being introduced

Figure 1 Generic framework for LEDPs

While LEDP development is still relatively immature, a number of important

principles are emerging (see Box 1).

Box 1 Guiding principles for LEDPs

1 It is critical to integrate emissions reductions into on-going national and

sub-national plans and programmes; preferably cross sectoral plans, such

as socio-economic development plans, land use plans and sectoral plans

This is important in order to achieve permanence and sustainability of

any intervention

2 Alternative options are available and economically feasible which

meet the goal of rural development in a lower emissions pathway

3 There are suffi cient incentives for stakeholders to invest in the development

of LEDPs These incentives are likely to be economic, through carbon

fi nance and/or as a result of legal requirements, be it national and/or

sub-national policies Without a carrot or stick, or preferably both, there will not

be genuine incentives to make LEDPs work

4 LEDPs must be context specifi c Land use and sectoral planning

processes across the region differ and so the LEDP model must

differ to accommodate country context Some countries already

have strong planning systems in place, while others will require

the gradual building up and introduction of activities Also different

countries have different capacities, systems and structures in place

to measure and report changes in the forest landscape.

5 There is a need to understand and be inclusive of the multiple objectives

and interests to be met across the landscape, as well as understanding

the potential trade-offs This requires horizontal coordination across

different ministries and agencies and inclusion of relevant stakeholders in

the process The LEDP process will help better understand and show the

changes within the landscape; sharing this information across stakeholders

will be key

1 See paragraph 38 Available at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2011/cop17/eng/09a01_02cp17.pdf

2 Ogonowski, M (2012), SNV Internal Strategy Papers on: (i) MRV near term options; (ii) fi nancing; (iii) integration of agriculture; and (iv) scenario planning SNV Vietnam

3 Walker, S., T Pearson, F Casarim, N Harris, A Grais & S Brown (2011) Standard Operating Procedures for Terrestrial Carbon Measurement Version 1.0 Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (LEAF) programme,

Bangkok.

4 Building up on utilising the World Agroforestry Centre Abacus software.

5 Swan, S and McNally, R.H.G (2011) High Biodiversity REDD+: Operationalising Safeguards and Delivering Environmental Co-benefi ts SNV Vietnam.

6 SNV (2008) Using the Value Chain Approach for Pro Poor Development: Experiences from SNV in Asia

SNV Vietnam

SNV activities with LEDPs

1 Development of the LEDP Framework

It is expected that the LEDP framework will be dynamic and evolve as it responds

to the needs of partners and requirements under future international REDD+ agreements In order to further develop and refi ne this framework, SNV is

carrying out the following activities:

• Lesson learning: Across Asia there are various initiatives underway which are

exploring emission reductions in land use planning; for example, the land use planning for low emissions development strategy (LUWES) model developed by CIFOR in Indonesia Through the LEAF programme’s regional learning platform, experiences are being shared;

• Testing different approaches: As highlighted in Box 1, LEDPs are being tested

under different local contexts Although the general steps may be the same the approach will differ across countries;

• Innovation: SNV is further exploring some of the key challenges to ensuring

a robust and pro-poor LEDP framework, such as the use of near-term MRV options; integration of safeguards into sub-national planning; defi ning non-carbon performance indicators; and access to different fi nancing options2

Figure 2 Tools/approaches used at different stages of the LEDPs process

plan

Carry out

multi-stakeholder

analysis

Reference emissions level development tool

Developing pro-poor benefit distribution system

Value chain analysis (integrating REDD+)

Compilation and

assessment of

planning documents

Terrestrial carbon stock and sampling design stand operating procedure

Assessment of renewable energy technologies

Assessment of

drivers of deforestation

Participatory carbon monitoring:

operational guidance

Integration of environmental and social safeguards and co-benefits

Scenario planning exercises

Holding multi-stakeholder platforms and analysis

Decision making support tool to determine REDD+

compatible agriculture systems

www.snvworld.org/redd SNV REDD+

2 Producing tools, guidelines and standard operating procedures to

support the LEDP process

Tools/approaches used at different stages of the LEDPs process are shown in

Figure 2.

• Baseline development: Various manuals and standard operating procedures

to support the measurement of forest based carbon emissions and the

development of baselines can be used This includes the Terrestrial Carbon

Stock and Overall Sampling Design Standard Operating Procedure3 produced by

Winrock International under the LEAF project Different guidance will be relevant

depending on the type and scale of intervention Participatory methods of data

collection are encouraged through participatory carbon monitoring (see SNV

briefi ng paper on REDD+ and Participatory Forest Monitoring)

• LEDP design: During this phase there is a need to hold multi-stakeholder

assessments and carry out inclusive scenario planning exercises that include

carbon emissions In order to examine trade-offs, opportunity cost assessments4

can be carried out At this design stage there is also the need to integrate

environment and social safeguards5, promote multiple benefi ts and design a

pro-poor benefi t distribution system in order to maximise social and environmental

benefi ts (See SNV REDD+ briefi ng papers on REDD+ and Benefi t Distribution

Systems and REDD+ and Multiple Benefi ts).

• During LEDP implementation SNV can draw on existing expertise in the

agriculture and renewable energy sectors by applying a number of tools and

technologies that can be adapted to integrate REDD+ For example, integrating

REDD+ into the agriculture value chain tool6 Under the new SNV REDD+ and

Energy and Agriculture Programme (REAP) new tools will be developed (See

SNV REDD+ briefi ng papers on REDD+ and Agriculture and REDD+ and

Renewable Energy).

As well as helping develop and apply the tools there is a large training and

capacity building component to ensure our government partners and local

community partners are able to understand, apply and adopt such tools

Supported by:

SNV

Contacts:

Richard McNally

SNV REDD+

Global Coordinator rmcnally@snvworld.org

Peter Stephen

LEAF Forest Management and Climate Change Technical Advisor pstephen@snvworld.org

For more information on the SNV REDD+ Programme go to www.snvworld.org/redd and follow us on twitter: @SNVREDD

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