News

Dr. Pieter Moonen and Dr. Bruno Verbist will be visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) from 17 to 22 October to attend and contribute to the fourth edition of the Université Internationale REDD+ de Kinshasa, a national REDD workshop organised by the Comité Nationale REDD.

The main objective of this edition is to strengthen the capacity of various stakeholders on the monitoring and evaluation system for non-carbon benefits indicators of the National REDD+ Strategy and draw lessons learned from the implementation of pilot projects and REDD+ process in DRC since 2010. As far as we know, DRC is the first country to make an exhaustive review of its REDD+ process and piloting projects.

The EFI REDD-FLEGT unit– through Adeline Dontenville – facilitated the contact with Raphaël Kasongo, from the DRC Ministry of Environment, responsible for organising the conference. It is an excellent occasion to: (i) present the SAFARI- project, its objectives and some of the preliminary results; (ii) get an overview of the current status of REDD+ in DRC; and (iii) link with REDD-stakeholders to prepare the survey planned for February 2017.

At the workshop various stakeholders and representatives will be present: members of national REDD+ organisations, Provincial REDD+ Focal Points, staff of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, delegates of other ministries, government and local government, national and international civil society organisations, the academic world (teachers and students) and private sector (business Federation of Congo, Small and Medium enterprises), international technical and financial partners, and selected representatives of REDD+ initiatives and pilot projects. Nearly 200 participants are expected at this event.

More information: Bruno.Verbist(at)kuleuven.be and/or Pieter Moonen Pieter.Moonen(at)kuleuven.be