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Scaling Forest Finance: Jurisdictional REDD+ Technical Assistance and Capacity Strengthening

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Jurisdictional Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (JREDD+) is a crucial mechanism for tropical forest countries seeking to achieve climate commitments, enhance sustainable forest management and access climate finance. Globally, JREDD+ has the potential to unlock billions in results-based finance for nature, protect hundreds of millions of hectares of forest and bolster the rights and resources of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Tropical forest countries face significant obstacles in meeting the rapidly evolving technical requirements for high-integrity REDD+ implementation, including the complex task of navigating new carbon standards such as the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) standard – TREES. National and subnational agencies require robust, science-based methodologies to ensure transparency, effectiveness and compliance with international frameworks. Winrock works Scaling Forest Finance: Jurisdictional REDD+ Technical Assistance and Capacity Strengthening alongside governments to design and implement JREDD+ programs through bespoke and demand driven technical assistance and capacity strengthening, offering expertise in forest carbon accounting, measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV), policy development, finance and market linkages, and tool development. Winrock is a global leader in helping to shape and implement JREDD+ programs under a range of REDD+ compliance frameworks. With a reputation for delivering well-researched, sound, and practical guidance, Winrock has been a key technical partner in developing the REDD+ programs of 16 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia — providing technical assistance across the three phases of REDD: readiness, implementation, and finance mobilization. Specific support includes development of national forest monitoring and information systems; forest reference levels; REDD+ strategy documents; and documentation and support to secure access to climate financing and issuance of carbon credits. Winrock’s technical assistance advances transparent and accurate emissions accounting — ensuring verified results and trusted carbon credits, while also strengthening jurisdictions’ longterm capacity to meet international climate commitments, such as Nationally Determined Contributions.

An enduring legacy of capacity strengthening and sustainability in Guyana

Winrock has been working in close collaboration with the Guyana Forestry Commission for more than a decade to strengthen capacity, design and implement forest carbon measurement systems, assess the impacts of key processes affecting forest carbon, and meet rigorous JREDD+ standards. Winrock played a pivotal role in the issuance of the world’s first jurisdictional REDD+ credits to Guyana under the ART-TREES standard – a groundbreaking achievement for the country that set a global benchmark for high-integrity carbon credits. Winrock continues to support Guyana on successful issuance and verification of carbon credits.

SERVICE OFFERING APPROACH & METHODS

Winrock collaborates with government agencies, technical institutions and community stakeholders through provision of technical assistance and capacity strengthening across the continuum of JREDD+ phases:

1. Readiness: development of practical, results driven JREDD+ strategies, action plans, policies and measures;
2. Implementation: support jurisdictions to actively undertake JREDD+ activities; and
3. Finance Mobilization (Payment for Results): verification of emission reductions achieved for receipt of financial compensation.

Readiness Activities for REDD+ Implementation:
Winrock assists governments in the development of National REDD+ Strategies and Action Plans, ensuring alignment with international frameworks and standards (UNFCCC, IPCC, ART, Verra). Winrock assesses countries’ REDD+ status and develops roadmaps for establishing and implementing a robust jurisdictional REDD+ program. We develop and implement capacity strengthening plans to increase understanding of JREDD+ among forestry officers, NGOs, and other stakeholders, and provide recommendations to strengthen governance structures and institutional coordination for programmatic success.

Implementation Activities – National Forest
Monitoring & MRV Systems: Winrock utilizes state-of-the-art technology and methodologies for supporting countries’ efforts for monitoring deforestation, forest degradation and assisted natural regeneration activities. We build the capacity of national and regional government actors to implement and institutionalize key systems, tools, and technologies that provide the requisite information base for improved forest monitoring, REDD+ readiness and forest landscape restoration efforts. This includes capacity strengthening and development and enhancement of tools and methodologies for forest monitoring systems and inventories, national MRV frameworks, geospatial monitoring and remote sensing, land use planning tools, field-based carbon monitoring systems and techniques to enhance robustness of emissions reduction estimates such as uncertainty analyses.

Finance Mobilization:
Winrock supports governments to successfully engage in and benefit from forest carbon markets through results-based payments and engagement with voluntary carbon markets.

• Results-Based Payments: Winrock supports implementation of policies and programs to fulfill emissions reduction and removal obligations for high-integrity standards including TREES, Gold Standard, Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, and the FCPF Carbon Fund Program, and calculates emissions reductions for verification of carbon credits.
• Voluntary Carbon Markets: Winrock can also support countries to navigate other high-integrity pathways including Article 6 through analysis of: relevant emerging and existing carbon credit standards registries; ability to comply with their MRV requirements; individual project MRV carbon standard requirements and audits of carbon standards’ MRV requirements; as well as helping governments to draft carbon market policies.

Tiers of Assistance

Tier 1: Strategic Advisory Services
Winrock provides discrete, short-term technical assistance designed to address very specific REDD+ readiness and implementation needs of jurisdictions. This level of support is well suited for jurisdictions at all stages of exploring the potential to participate in the carbon markets. Activities could include capacity strengthening on carbon finance and carbon-based accounting methodologies, the evaluation of standards or mechanisms based on country circumstances, the development of field-based carbon monitoring systems, and techniques to enhance robustness of emissions reduction estimates such as Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis.

Tier 2: REDD+ Readiness Assessment and Development of Implementation Plan
Using Winrock’s custom designed REDD+ Assessment Matrix and a multi-stakeholder consultation process, Winrock conducts a comprehensive policy and institutional gap analysis to assess JREDD+ readiness status. Based on the assessment, Winrock develops a tailored implementation and capacity strengthening strategy to execute a JREDD+ program and recommends carbon accounting and MRV systems for compliance with international reporting requirements. These systems are designed to accurately and transparently account for national emissions, calculate emission reductions, and provide information necessary for results-based payment schemes.

Tier 3: REDD+ Implementation and Capacity Strengthening
Winrock works in partnership with jurisdictional stakeholders to co-build and co-execute JREDD+ programs through long-term, multi-year engagements that are responsive to capacity needs and readiness levels. Winrock provides capacity strengthening and technical assistance on constructing and implementing MRV systems, developing and updating national forest inventories and forest reference levels, and securing access to results-based payments through fully articulated documentation that meet requirements for data quality, transparency, and third party verification. In addition, Winrock can provide direct technical support on emissions reductions verification.