June 2014: The UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (UN-REDD) released the second edition of its 2014 newsletter, highlighting the release of the updated database on emissions from land use. The FAOSTAT database, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), includes data on emissions from agriculture and forestry as well as other sectors affecting land use.

The UN-REDD newsletter profiles the Participatory Governance Assessment (PGA) process in Nigeria, one of the pilot countries for the approach, which is intended to support the full and effective participation of stakeholders in REDD+.

The bulletin also highlights a workshop for Asia and the Pacific that focused on the importance of mainstreaming gender in REDD+; “active listening” in Panama, meant to improve local stakeholder engagement in REDD+; and a capacity building workshop in Sri Lanka that explored the utility of remote sensing in REDD+ planning.

Also in Sri Lanka, the newsletter reports that a training on the application of greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory tools based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines was given. The newsletter also features the launch of forest cover maps in Panama, the design of a Safeguard Information System (SIS) in Costa Rica, a workshop on the rights of indigenous peoples in Indonesia, and the completion of a national land use assessment in Mongolia.

Finally, the newsletter announces the launch of a national report on forest governance, land tenure and REDD+ in Kenya, a third in an analytic series. [Publication: UN-REDD Newsletter – Issue No. 2, 2014]