FOREST INVESTMENT PROGRAM
FORESTS COMPRISE NEARLY A THIRD OF ALL LAND ON EARTH, ABOUT FOUR BILLION HECTARES. THEY ARE ESSENTIAL FOR CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE, AS SOURCES FOR LIVELIHOODS AND JOBS, AS HABITATS FOR ANIMALS AND FOR CONSERVING SOIL AND WATER. HOWEVER, OVER THE LAST DECADE WE HAVE LOST AROUND SEVEN MILLION HECTARES A YEAR OF NATURAL FORESTS—THAT IS EQUIVALENT TO 18 SOCCER FIELDS PER MINUTE—AND MUCH OF THIS IS DUE TO AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION, CONVERSION TO PASTURELAND, INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT, DESTRUCTIVE LOGGING AND FIRES.
ESTABLISHED IN 2008, THE $8.3 BILLION CLIMATE INVESTMENT FUNDS (CIF) ADDRESS THESE CHALLENGES BY DELIVERING INVESTMENTS AT SCALE TO EMPOWER CLIMATE-SMART TRANSFORMATION.
FIP COUNTRIES
THEME 1.2
Cocoa farmers with shade trees, part of Climate Smart Cocoa
In Ghana, 11,112 people in forest and adjacent communities received monetary/non-monetary benefits from forest and Climate Smart Agriculture and there were 867 direct project beneficiaries, who improved their livelihoods, had better access to fuel wood and cultural services.
Nursery for shade trees to be planted in cocoa farms
Photos: Rocio Sanz
Joint Supervision Mission Village visit. Community members take part in a vote. SUFORD-SU's community engagement framework is built upon the concept of "free, prior, and informed consent" and stakeholders are invited to participate in the sustainable forest management in their local areas
In Lao PDR, there were 130 beneficiaries with increased direct management of forest resources by local communities. Thanks to FIP, forest governance is being improved through greater participation of stakeholders, especially villagers, in participatory sustainable forest management.
Names of village stakeholders are recorded as part of the SUFORD-SU dissemination process in local communities.
Photos: Dao Suwannachairop. 2014
Sawmill owned by the ejido Barranca del Calabozo in Jalisco, Mexico, which benefitted from a concessional finance credit through the FIP.
In Mexico, 51,667 ejido members benefited from CONAFOR's special programs and 1,110 direct beneficiaries had their incomes increased and 60 people working in Community Forest Enterprises with their incomes increased by productive activities that decrease forest pressure.
Sustainably managed forest in the state of Oaxaca
Photos: Rocio Sanz
RESULTS THEMES
BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity efforts were achieved through the reduction of forest loss, conservation of forests and payments for environmental services.
In Ghana, FIP efforts focused on capacity building and awareness creation to reduce forest loss.
In Lao PDR, FIP efforts focused on forest management planning, including provisions for high-conservation value forests, stream buffer zones and protection of steep slopes. FIP promoted Protected Forest Areas (PFAs) designation and law enforcement, which is also expected to protect biodiversity.
GOVERNANCE
Governance efforts achieved results through strengthening of decision making processes and forest law enforcement.
In Lao PDR, forest governance is being improved through greater participation of stakeholders, especially villagers, in participatory sustainable forest management. FIP also supports forest and wildlife law enforcement.
In Mexico the FIP promoted the strengthening of decision-making within the ejidos and communities through the support to community forestry. In 2015, there was an increase in number of beneficiaries participating in these local development processes.
TENURE
Tenure, rights and access showed progress in establishing innovative tree tenure and benefit sharing systems.
In Ghana, FIP is promoting an innovative ‘tree tenure’ approach. A system will transform ownership and benefits for local community members, and will incentivize farmers to plant and maintain forest trees. FIP contributed extensively in the consultation processes for the development of tree tenure and benefit sharing. FIP is promoting shade trees in cocoa farms. Through this tenure system, cocoa farmers own these individual shade trees which can be sold for timber, and represent an additional source of income for cocoa farmers.
CAPACITY BUILDING
Capacity building efforts achieved significant progress in promoting and strengthening community institutions and local development processes.
In Mexico, FIP created platforms for dialogue between producers and institutions, and created spaces that allow for greater management capacity. Also, FIP promoted and strengthened community institutions and local development processes through capacity building workshops. FIP supported the rehabilitation and strengthening of 40 CONAFOR field
offices (out of 72), and six territorial development public officials were established in Yucatan and Jalisco. Also, in 2015 the number of local suppliers of Support and Technical Assistance (PLAAT in Spanish) went from 0 to 5 and the number of certified technical advisors increased by 53%.
IMPROVING SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT:
A BRAZIL-MOZAMBIQUE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
Brazil and Mozambique are both countries under the Forest Investment Program. They share similar types of forests—the Miombo in Mozambique and the Cerrado in Brazil—and a common challenge: how to ensure forests contribute to rural livelihoods. Specialists from both countries met to exchange knowledge, ideas and best practices in sustainable forest management and to learn how to empower forest communities in the Cerrado and Miombo forests.
PROMOTING FINANCIAL INCLUSION FOR FOREST COMMUNITIES IN MEXICO
FIP provided Community Forest Enterprises (CFEs) with credit and technical assistance in the areas of technical, administrative and marketing skills. One of the partner financing institutions, FINDECA allocated 41% of FIP resources to support CFEs to further develop
sustainable projects, in well-defined niche markets on topics such as extraction and wood saw mills, furniture manufacturing. Results obtained by FINDECA, show that it is possible to promote financial inclusion for forest communities.
Furniture factory which received a credit from FINDECA.
Photos: Rocio Sanz
EMPOWERING WOMEN IN FOREST COMMUNITIES
In 2015, Ghana and Mexico reported gender-disaggregated livelihood co-benefits, from among 6 countries reporting on livelihood co-benefits. Women represent almost 40% of the total reported people receiving livelihood co-benefits from FIP projects.
ENGAGING WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR
IFC partnered with the company Stora Enso for its project “Smallholder Forestry Program” in Lao PDR. This project supports development of business models for community-based reforestation of degraded and underutilized land.
The agroforesty project introduced a biodiversity set-aside conservation area, as required under IFC Environmental and Social Performance Standards.
DEDICATED GRANT MECHANISM
$80 million dedicated grant mechanism for indigenous peoples and local communities (DGM)
- Unique to the FIP
- Designed and led by indigenous peoples and local communities
- Largest global REDD+ initiative solely for these groups
CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATIONAL REDD+ PROGRAM IN MEXICO
The Monitoring and Evaluation systems, promoted by the FIP have been strengthened significantly and now generate useful information for CONAFOR (Mexico’s National Forestry Commission and FIP focal point), its programs and other initiatives related to REDD+.
The FIP in collaboration with the FCPF contributed to the MRV for REDD+, which is completed at the technical level. Some of the main contributions are the installation of the national system to estimate biomass and carbon, the Operational System of Forest Monitoring based on Landsat and RapidEye (MAD-Mex system), and the integrated system of activity data and emission factors for GHG emission and sequestration estimates.
ABOUT THE FIP
The $758 million Forest Investment Program (FIP), a funding window of the CIF, provides indispensable direct investments to benefit forests, development and the climate.
FIP grants and low-interest loans, channeled through partner multilateral development banks (MDBs), are empowering countries to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation both inside and outside of the forest sector to achieve the triple win of being good for forests, good for development and good for the climate.
The FIP supports developing countries’ efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and promotes sustainable forest management. This helps make forests a central component of low-carbon development. It also contributes to other benefits such as biodiversity conservation, poverty reduction and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.