Mawlamyine, 20 December 2017
In close collaboration with Forest Department, UN-REDD Myanmar Programme have held Sub-national level Consultation Workshop on the development of National REDD+ Strategy in Mawlamyine, Mon State from 19 to 20 December 2017.
Mon State Hluttaw Speaker Daw Tin Ei, State Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Dr. Min Kyi Win, State Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Transport U Tun Htay and Members of State Parliament were present at the opening ceremony of the workshop. Officials from respective departments and representatives from local CSOs and private sectors participated 2-day consultation workshop.
The objectives of the workshop are: to raise awareness and share information about the National REDD+ Strategy; obtain feedback regarding feasibility of priority policies and measures (PAMs) proposed for the key drivers in the state-region; to identify potential benefits and risks of the priority PAMs and recommend ways to strengthen proposed PAMs.
After key presentations by technical experts from Forest Department and UN-REDD National Programme on: The introduction of REDD+ Programme in Myanmar including the objective & key expected results; Overview key sections of National REDD+ Strategy; Key Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation; and Key proposed Policy and Measures (PAMs) for Mon State, intensive group discussions on proposed direct and enabling PAMs against the key drivers regarding feasibility of the PAMs and Benefit and Risk assessment based on the context of specific state/region.
In his opening speech, U Tun Htay, Mon State Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Transport said “Myanmar is committed to implement REDD+ programme to reduce deforestation and forest degradation as well as to enhance forest conservation. REDD+ is a mechanism proposed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to achieve significant reductions in anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, thus contributing to the international efforts to mitigate the negative effects of climate change.”
In addition, U Tun Htay also stressed, “As everyone knows, all the drivers of deforestation within the country could not possibly be solved by Forest Department alone. The multi stakeholder participation such as government departments, local community, different ethnic groups, CSOs and NGOs is necessary to achieve REDD+ goals in reducing carbon emission from deforestation and forest degradation.”
The sub-national consultation workshops on development of National REDD+ Strategy are planned to conduct in all state/regions of Myanmar. Mon State is the third state/region to undertake this sub-national consultation workshop while the workshop in Magwe on 29-30 November 2017 and in Myitkyina on 6-7 December were completed consecutively.
Myanmar became a partner country of the UN-REDD Programme in December 2011, and received support to develop a REDD+ Readiness Roadmap that was finalized in 2013. From 2014 onwards, the Programme provided initial support to implement the widely consulted roadmap. In November 2015, the 15th Meeting of the UN-REDD Policy Board approved the country’s request for a National Programme, with full implementation commencing in January 2017.
The UN-REDD Myanmar Programme seeks to support the development of national capacities and institutions during the readiness phase of REDD+ under the UNFCCC and includes five major outcomes:
Outcome 1: Relevant stakeholders engaged and their capacities developed
Outcome 2: National institutions have capacity to implement effective and participatory governance arrangements for REDD+
Outcome 3: REDD+ safeguards defined and national safeguards information system developed
Outcome 4: Development of Myanmar’s national forest monitoring system (NFMS) and preliminary forest RELs/RLs supported
Outcome 5: National REDD+ Strategy (NRS) developed
