22 September 2011: The UN-REDD Programme has released the September issue of its Newsletter, reporting on national REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks) activities in Mongolia and the Republic of Congo, as well as regional news from the Latin America and Caribbean, African and Asian regions.

The Newsletter highlights the activities of Mongolia as it prepares a roadmap for its REDD+ readiness activities. It also reports on a recent joint mission of UN-REDD and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to the Republic of Congo, noting the high degree of national ownership of the country’s REDD-process, as well as the strong mobilization of civil society.

The Newsletter further discusses a recent study on empowering local governance institutions in tackling corruption in REDD+ in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the launch of new REDD+ capacity building studies for Asia and Africa to identify capacity gaps that countries have in developing REDD+ programmes. The Newsletter also reports on an upcoming training session hosted by UN-REDD and Brazil’s Space Agency, INPE, on remote sensing for forest monitoring, and notes the availability of a report from a training workshop on national systems for greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. [Publication: UN-REDD September 2011 Newsletter]