Building capacity for REDD+ in East Africa for Improved Ecosystem Health and for Sustainable Livelihoods in Eastern Africa (REDD-EA)

Project title: Building capacity for REDD+ in East Africa for Improved Ecosystem Health and for Sustainable Livelihoods in Eastern Africa (REDD-EA)

Background

The UN has agreed that developing countries are encouraged to contribute to climate change mitigation actions in the forest sector by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocksof forests, enhancement of forest carbon stocks and sustainable management of forests. These efforts are supported through a Norwegian-supported mechanism known as REDD+, or «Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation”. 

The purpose of REDD+ is to provide incentives that reflect the value of the carbon sequestered and stored in trees, and also to contribute to forest conservation and sustainable management of forests, in forest-rich developing countries. Although REDD+ has many potential benefits, it also comes with social-economic and environmental costs and risks, especially for forest dependent poor people.

The negotiations around and implementation of REDD+ activities therefore require institutional and technical capacity at the national and local level in target countries in Eastern Africa. Presently, this capacity is very low in the east African region. This is further complicated by the fact that the REDD+ mechanism is new and not well understood by policy makers or researchers in educational institutions in Eastern Africa.

Strengthening research based solutions for reducing carbon emissions through forest management

The project aims to contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved ecosystem health for sustainable livelihoods in Eastern Africa by strengthening the capacity for education and research on climate change and REDD+ at Makerere University in Uganda and University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) in Tanzania, in partnership with the University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Norway.

Specifically, the project aims to develop new knowledge on climate change and the potential and challenges related to REDD+ in Uganda and Tanzania. This knowledge will inform and aim to improve policy making related to climate and sustainable development in East Africa.

Academic development for natural resource management and climate change mitigation

The project will contribute to academic capacity development, with academic staff members at Makerere and UDSM trained to levels of Master, PhD and Post Doc. There will also be institutional strengthening through curriculum development, including updating the existing Master programme in Environmental Sciences at Makerere’s Department of Environmental Management.

This upgrade will include new courses on climate change and REDD+, as well as a new PhD program with an up to date curriculum on debates around REDD+. Other activities include conducting research and generating evidence on climate change and REDD+ in the Eastern Africa region, and the creation of networks and partnerships within and beyond the academic community on climate and REDD+ issues in order to inform policy making.

This includes the creation of a resource centre on REDD+ which will progressively be developed into a regional centre of excellence on climate change and REDD+ related research and education. Finally, gender is an important cross-cutting issue in the project, both in terms of ensuring female candidates for training and ensuring that gender concerns are included in the research topics and in the new Master and PhD curriculum.

Key goals and achievements

Overall goal

To contribute to reduced green house gas emissions and improved ecosystem health for sustainable  livelihoods in Eastern Africa

The objectives of the project are

• Strengthening capacity for education and research on climate change and REDD+ at Makerere University and University of Dar es Salaam
• Strengthened capacity of central government, local government, civil society organizations and community institutions to debate and participate in REDD+ initiatives in Uganda and Tanzania