Cambodia received funding for a full UN-REDD Country Programme in 2011. Prior to this, the country had already prepared a REDD+ Readiness Roadmap. The Country Programme focuses on effective management of the REDD+ Readiness process and stakeholder engagement, development of the National REDD+ Strategy and Implementation framework, improved capacity to manage REDD+ at sub-national levels; and design of a monitoring system.

As the predominant source of Readiness funding for Cambodia, the UN REDD National Programme has been designed to support implementation of the Roadmap, in particular with activities under four components:

Component 1: National REDD+ Readiness Management arrangements and stakeholder consultation (Sections 1 and 2 of the Roadmap).

Component 2: National capacity-building towards development of the REDD+ strategy and implementation framework (Sections 3 and 4 of the Roadmap).

Component 3: Subnational REDD+ capacity-building and demonstration (Subnational activities found in Sections 2-6 of the Roadmap)

Component 4: Support to development of the Monitoring system (Sections 5 and 6 of the Roadmap).

The roadmap also included an assessment of land use, drivers of land-use change and forest governance. A multi-agency REDD+ Taskforce was established to oversee the roadmap development and to coordinate REDD+ related activities at the national level. Subsequently, Cambodia has received funding for a UN-REDD National Programme as well as funding through the FCPF and support from Japan and others. The UN-REDD inception process was completed at the end of 2011 and the Programme is now being implemented. Key results and achievements of the UN-REDD National Programme in Cambodia.

Progress against the Warsaw Framework for  REDD+

Since the country’s successful preparation of its NP, approved in 2012, targeted support has responded to evolving support gaps in the country’s REDD+ efforts. The country is also benefiting from the CBR+ initiative. The following achievements are from the targeted support and CBR+ initiative. Achievements as a result of the NP can be found in the NP Final Report (here).

National REDD+ Strategy/Action Plan
Supplementary targeted support to the NP has supported the strengthening of the Community Networks (Forestry, Fisheries and Protected Area Networks and the Indigenous Peoples Network) to participate fully and effectively in the REDD + efforts; and women effectively included into management of the REDD+ readiness process. In 2015, the National inter-ministerial Gender Group ensured strategic gender considerations were integrated into the draft National Strategy and undertook awareness raising activities, including workshops on gender and REDD+ for technical teams and the REDD+ Consultation Group and radio talk shows at “Women’s Media Centre of Cambodia (WMC)”.

Forest Reference Emission Level / Forest Reference Level (FREL/FRL)
Targeted support is being provided on strengthening capacity for the development of the FREL/FRL and on a one-off regional event to facilitate dialogue and information exchange between Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and Viet Nam on FREL/ FRL development as they begin to interact with UNFCCC. 

CBR+
In addition, following the approval by Cambodia’s National Steering Committee for CBR+, 13 projects are starting up aiming at strengthening community forest management committees, conserving and restoring community forests, supporting communities to secure title to forests they manage, and promoting sustainable livelihoods to reduce deforestation. Of the grants committed to date, 18% have been allocated directly to indigenous organization, and two additional grants to NGOs that directly support indigenous peoples. So far 90 communities and local NGOs have received training on REDD+ and/or project design and management, and the CBR+ grantees continue to receive technical support from the SGP Cambodia Country Team. Lessons learned from CBR+ projects will inform the development of a national REDD+ action plan.