THEMATIC PROGRAMME ON
REDUCING DEFORESTATION AND FOREST DEGRADATION AND
ENHANCING ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES IN TROPICAL FORESTS
Programme Profile
RATIONALE
Tropical forests play a vital role in sustaining a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity,
maintaining land-use options and water resources, contributing to the carbon cycle andproviding other key services to forest-dependent people. The ITTA, 2006, commits ITTO topromoting a ‘better understanding of the contribution of … environmental services to thesustainable management of tropical forests with the aim of enhancing the capacity ofmembers to develop strategies to strengthen such contributions in the context of sustainable
forest management…’.
Tropical forests provide an important service by protecting watersheds that supply forestdwelling and urban communities with high-quality water. Some ITTO member countries havedeveloped payment schemes for environmental services related to watershed management,
which could inform similar initiatives in other tropical countries. Tropical forests are also ofenormous importance for the conservation of biodiversity. They contain more species thanother biomes and a high proportion of these species are threatened. Services such as theseand others, including carbon storage and disaster prevention, may be achieved
simultaneously through sustainable forest management.
Deforestation and forest degradation in tropical forests have reduced the quality of many
forest environmental services. Often, poorly implemented timber harvesting has damaged
remaining trees and caused soil erosion and compaction, while the conversion of forests toother land uses has also led to the loss or degradation of many services. The introduction orstrengthening of sustainable forest management, forest restoration, afforestation andreforestation in such areas can play an important role in restoring environmental services andreducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. ITTO has a long track recordof working with member countries and partners to promote such activities through fieldprojects and capacity-building.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
The general objective of the Thematic Programme is to help improve livelihoods by reducing
deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing environmental services through thesustainable management of tropical forests, forest restoration, afforestation, reforestation andother related activities.
PROGRAMME STRATEGYThe Thematic Programme would focus primarily on four strategic areas:
I.

Assessment and diagnosis
The quality of planning for forest-related interventions depends on the availability andaccuracy of data and information related to the state of and threats to forest resources.
Activities to be supported in this area could include:
Forest cover and forest resources assessment, monitoring and verification
systems
Pilot multi-purpose forest inventories
Estimation of forest carbon stocks, including emissions from deforestation andforest degradation based on already existing tools for this purpose

--Assessment of policy, legal and institutional frameworks to promote biodiversity
conservation, carbon storage, watershed conservation and other environmental
services through sustainable forest management
Land and forest tenure assessments
Capacity-building, institutional strengthening, training and outreach.

II.

Enabling conditions and capacity-building
Activities here would be aimed at establishing enabling policy, legal and institutionalframeworks and governance related to environmental services and the reduction ofemissions from deforestation and degradation, including by strengthening tenure
security and resource access. They would be grouped under four headings:
Formulation/enhancement of national forest policies, including legislation; Training; andProposal formulation.

III.

Demonstration activities
The Programme would facilitate demonstration projects on sustainable forest
management, forest restoration, reforestation and afforestation to help realize thebenefits of environmental services, including in local communities.

IV.

Scaling up and dissemination
Programme support would be provided for activities dedicated to the replication andscaling up of successful demonstration projects related to environmental services
schemes in tropical forests. The Programme would also provide support for sharing
information and lessons learned locally, nationally and internationally.

In all four areas, ITTO would undertake complementary cross-cutting actions to facilitate theimplementation of the Programme in an integrated manner.
ANTICIPATED OUTPUTS/OUTCOMESThe intended outcomes of the Thematic Programme are: (i) Increased area of forest undersustainable management, and reduced deforestation and forest degradation in tropical timber
producing forests; (ii) Improved capacities to develop and implement feasible policy options
and incentives mechanisms to promote environmental services through sustainable forest
management; (iii) Improved livelihoods for forest dwellers and other stakeholders directly
involved in the supply of environmental services through the sustainable management oftropical forests; (iv) Improved practices to promote and stimulate community involvement in
the supply of environmental services from the sustainable management of tropical forests,
and their wide dissemination; and (v) Improved resilience of tropical forest ecosystems andforest-dependent communities.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS/COLLABORATING AGENCIESThe Programme would be implemented in close cooperation with ITTO’s Civil Society
Advisory Group and Trade Advisory Group and relevant international, regional and nationalorganizations and bodies, including the UN-REDD Fund, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon
Partnership Facility and the planned Forest Investment Program.
INDICATIVE BUDGET AND TIMEFRAME
An indicative three-year budget that would result in significant improvements in the threetropical regions would be US$18 million.
PledgedBalance
TOTAL

US$ 3,500,000
US$ 14,500,000
US$ 18,000,000

POTENTIAL DONORSThe Government of Norway has made an initial pledge of US$ 3,500,000. The Governmentsof Japan, Switzerland and U.S.A. have indicated their intention to contribute to this Thematic
Programme.