11 November 2015: Three new National Programmes were presented by Chile, Myanmar and Peru at the 15th meeting of the UN-REDD Programme’s Policy Board, held from 9-10 November 2015, in San José, Costa Rica. Support for the 2016-2020 phase of the Programme was reaffirmed by its three collaborating UN agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

In addition to the National Programme presentations, the meeting included sessions on the UN-REDD Programme’s new 2016-2020 governance structure, lessons learned related to results-based management, and prioritization, criteria and needs assessment experiences.

UN-REDD Programme Head of Secretariat Mario Boccucci reported on the 2015 semi-annual progress of the Programme, presenting an aggregated review of its outputs, results and impacts. These include supporting the Programme’s now 64 partner countries, 10 of which have now achieved, and 24 of which are in the process of achieving, the operational elements of REDD+ readiness. The latest country to complete its National Programme and advance it REDD+ readiness phase is Cambodia, which presented an evaluation of its completed programme at the meeting.

The Policy Board meeting was preceded by the 2015 Global Knowledge Exchange, jointly organized by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the UN-REDD Programme, held on 8 November. The event brought together 100 REDD+ practitioners from more than 30 countries, including representatives of developing countries, indigenous peoples, civil society organizations, World Bank agencies, UN agencies and donor countries. [UN-REDD Press Release] [Policy Board Meeting Presentations and Documentation] [Natural Resources Policy & Practice Story on the Global Knowledge Exchange]