27 March 2013: Two recent meetings of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), its Sixth Meeting of the Carbon Fund Participants (CF6, 15-16 March) and its 14th Meeting of the Participants Committee (PC14, 19-21 March 2013), have discussed updates on emissions reductions programmes and considered presentations on REDD+ readiness from a number of countries.

The CF6 heard presentations from Ethiopia, the Republic of the Congo, Viet Nam, as well as a resolution on support for Costa Rica. With regard to Costa Rica, the Carbon Fund agreed to support the development of the national programme design and established a $63 million fund to pay for emission reductions. These emission reductions will be achieved as part of Costa Rica’s plan to become the first “carbon neutral” country by 2020. Finally, the meeting also adopted the Emission Reductions Payment Agreement term sheet.

The PC14 considered resolutions on assessing REDD+ readiness packages, the status of REDD+ participants, and proposals from Chile, Honduras, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Thailand and Vanuatu. As a result, the aforementioned countries can now access up to $3.8 million each to support activities including: the development of national REDD+ strategies and reference emission levels; the design of forest monitoring systems; and the set-up of REDD+ national management arrangements, including proper safeguards. [6th Meeting of the Carbon Fund Participants Website] [14th Meeting of the Participants Committee Website]