On the morning of September 27, in Hanoi, the Department of Forestry ( Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ) coordinated with Emergent Forest Finance (coordinating organization of the Reducing Emissions through Forest Finance Alliance - LEAF) to organize a workshop to share information about LEAF with stakeholders.
Information at the Workshop said that LEAF is an alliance that brings together forested countries, businesses and donor governments to promote national-scale forest carbon credit transactions, issued by ART (REDD+ trading platform) according to the TREES standard (REDD+ optimal environmental standard).
The TREES standard ensures the highest level of environmental and social safety. In addition, LEAF also sets strict criteria for screening private sector buyers. Companies can only participate in LEAF if they actually implement emission reduction programs, ensuring that credits purchased through LEAF are complementary to, and not offset, their own emission reduction actions.
The LEAF Alliance is supported by four donor governments (UK, US, Norway, South Korea) and more than 25 corporate members with strong commitments to reducing deforestation.
In fact, at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Emergent signed a Letter of Intent to establish cooperation between Vietnam and the Alliance for Reducing Emissions and Strengthening Forest Finance (LEAF).
Accordingly, the two sides agreed to negotiate, sign and implement the Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement from the Central Highlands and South Central Coast (ERPA). It is expected that Vietnam will transfer to LEAF/Emergent 5.15 million tons of CO2 to reduce emissions from forests in the Central Highlands and South Central Coast in the period of 2022-2026 at a minimum price of 10 USD/1 ton of CO2 . The forest area participating in the program is expected to be 4.26 million hectares, including 3.24 million hectares of natural forests and 1.02 million hectares of planted forests.
According to Mr. Tran Quang Bao - Director of the Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the South Central and Central Highlands regions, in 2022, with a total forest area of about 4.29 million hectares, accounting for over 29% of the country's forest area, of special importance in terms of forest resources and biodiversity, have been selected to implement the LEAF initiative.
According to the above Letter of Intent, the entire amount of credits transferred to LEAF will be counted towards Vietnam's emission reduction contribution (NDC).
According to Director of the Forestry Department Tran Quang Bao, since signing the Letter of Intent, the Forestry Department - the focal agency assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - has closely coordinated with Emergent to promote and implement the LEAF initiative to ensure progress.
“This LEAF Initiative Information Sharing Workshop is an important event, a milestone in the process of preparing, signing and implementing the ERPA. The workshop aims to provide and share with stakeholders at the central and local levels, local communities and ethnic minorities in the South Central and Central Highlands regions about the content and implementation process of the LEAF initiative” – Director of the Forestry Department Tran Quang Bao said./.
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