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| (Photo: ©Tolasreypeou Sem/UNDP Cambodia) |
Excellency Has Sareth, Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
During the past five years, the UN-REDD programme and the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) have together provided technical and financial support for the Royal Government of Cambodia to become “ready” to implement REDD+ activities. In Cambodia, UNDP has been designated as a delivery partner for implementing the FCPF project. To reach this goal, the UNDP has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and worked closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery and the Ministry of Environment.
Since the beginning of the REDD+ initiatives, our main focus has been to create an enabling environment while ensuring full and effective participation of all relevant stakeholders in the readiness process.
In this light, I am delighted to make note of a recent event. Last week, the Prime Minister hosted a Forum on conservation at the Peace Palace.
This historic event opens a new chapter in Cambodian natural resource management. For the first time, stakeholders including local communities and civil societies engaged in a close dialogue with the Prime Minister on numerous issues related to conservation. During the Forum, the Prime Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to protecting and conserving natural resources including forests. He also remarked on the importance of active participation of all relevant stakeholders and declared that the government has decided to host regular public consultations on natural resources management.
Building on the principle of active stakeholder participation, the National REDD+ Strategy is one of the key national policies for ensuring conservation and sustainable management of forests. Among other things, the Strategy identifies the main causes of deforestation and forest degradation, and it proposes Policies and Measures to address these challenges and pave the way for the sustainable management of forests.
The National REDD+ strategy is one of the four prerequisites for a country to become eligible for results based payment from Global Climate Financing sources such as the Green Climate Fund. The other three requirements are establishment of safeguards information system, forest reference emission levels, and national forest monitoring system.
Finalization of the Strategy is therefore necessary for accessing results based payment. This makes effective implementation of the Strategy crucial. To qualify, the Country has to demonstrate actual “results” in the form of reduced Greenhouse Gas emissions from the forest sector. It also has to improve the quality of lives of vulnerable communities in Cambodia. With a view to accomplishing these important goals, I would like to briefly share with you three recommendations for effective implementation of the Strategy.
The first recommendation is prioritization of Policies and Measures. The present draft lists 20 sets of strategies to be implemented to protect and conserve forests. Prioritization of these strategies and concrete action plans with clear timelines is very important for effective implementation to be possible.
Related to this, the second point of recommendation is to clarify the institutional structure of implementation. Only by specifying the roles and responsibilities of different government entities it is possible to conduct focused interventions and actions under the set timeline.
Finally, I am delighted to learn that the Government has led an extensive consultation process in developing this draft Strategy. These consultations have involved a wide range of stakeholders, including national and sub-national governments, development partners, NGOs, local communities, Indigenous Peoples and women as well as men. Successful implementation of the Strategy will also depend on broad participation of all relevant stakeholders. It will also depend on ensuring that the rights and interests of all relevant stakeholders are protected through adequate safeguard measures.
Up to now, it has been our privilege to contribute to this important work together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Ministry of Environment. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration and partnership.
In November this year, COP 22 will take place in Marrakech, Morocco. I look forward to the endorsement of the National REDD+ Strategy and submission of the Forest Reference Level prior to the event. These important steps would send a strong message of Cambodia’s intention to protect, conserve and sustainably manage its forests.
As we set to work finalizing the National REDD+ Strategy, I wish you a productive day of deliberations.
Thank you.
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