Alignment of the Makira REDD+ project with the ER-Program of North-West Madagascar Madagascar

Context of the service

In 2001, the Ministry of Water and Forests of Madagascar (MEF), in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), launched a programme to establish the Makira Protected Area in northeastern Madagascar and to finance its management at least in part through carbon markets. The Protected Area will be effectively created in 2005 and will become a National Park in 2012.
Since 2013, WCS has been the delegated manager of Makira. The Makira REDD+ project was developed by WCS and registered and validated with the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCBS) in 2013. It was able to generate and market credits on the voluntary market through two audits (2013 and 2016).
In addition, the Malagasy Government has initiated the preparation of a REDD+ jurisdictional program (ER-Program) on more than 6 million hectares in the humid forests of the East. Major issues concerning the integration of the Makira REDD+ project into the ER-Program were raised.

Services provided

The following tasks were carried out:
- Documentary analysis (Makira Project Description Documents (PDD) (VCS and CCBA), monitoring reports 2005-2009 and 2010-2013, draft ER-Program Description Document (ERPD), methodological framework of the Forest Carbon Partnership Faccility (FCPF) Carbon Fund, etc.
- Analysis of integration issues: management of leaks to/from Makira, role of Regions/Municipalities in Makira's interventions, key to the distribution of Makira's benefits, obligations in terms of measurement/reporting/verification (MRV), safeguard clauses, complaint management, etc.
SalvaTerra then facilitated the exchanges between WCS and the Ministry of Water and Forests (MEF), providing the necessary analyses for the preparation of proposals.
Ultimately, WCS and the MEF reached consensus positions on the aforementioned issues, which made it possible to reach an agreement in principle on the conditions for the inclusion of the Makira REDD+ project in the ER-Program.

Summary of the service

Support to WCS for the alignment of the REDD+ Makira project with the ER-Program of North-West Madagascar: Data analysis (Makira REDD+ project, ER-Program, FPCF guidelines, etc.); Analysis of integration issues (management of leaks to/from Makira, distribution of Makira's profits, etc.); Facilitation of exchanges between WCS and the Ministry of Water and Forests (MEF) to validate the alignment of the two initiatives.