Operationalizing the National MRV System of the Republic of Congo

Context 

Since 2012, the National Center for the Inventory and Management of Forest and Wildlife Resources of the Ministry of Forest Economy of the Republic of Congo (RoC) has been supported by the FAO and the World Bank to develop a National Measurement, Reporting and Verification System (SYNA-MNV in French). This system allows the country to evaluate, according to the Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL), the national performance in reducing emissions related to deforestation and forest degradation throughout the National Forest Estate.  

The Republic of Congo launched its first National Forest Inventory (NFI) in 2010. The field work was completed in 2015, based on which the country developed and submitted its FREL to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2016. The FREL has been evaluated with technical recommendations for its next revision. The recommendations highlight improving and producing new specific emission factors (especially for flooded forests), improving activity data, especially for degradation, and updating/revising the entire adjustment, to reflect trends on investments in different economic areas (e.g. agricultural, mining, oil).  

The programme to operationalize the national system for MRV (SYNA MNV in French) is thus designed to monitor activities part of the National REDD+ Strategy and to estimate emissions and removals of greenhouse gas specific to the forest and land use sectors.

The programme is built around two functions: 1) Forest monitoring and measurement and 2) Reporting and verification of REDD+ activities, through the satellite land monitoring system, the National Forest Inventory and  the Greenhouse Gas Inventory. 

National partners

This programme is led by the Ministry of Forest Economy and the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin

Implementing partner

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

 

* This program is in its inception phase. All financial information may be found on the MPTF Gateway here.

Country Results at Glance

2.00M

dollars approved

1.50M

dollars transferred

4.00

annual forest cover change maps to be produced at the national scale for the period 2020-2024.

30.00%

women to actively participate in each training and workshop session

1.00

module to be developed to automatically detect forest cover loss in near-real time

2.00

versions of the NERF submitted to - and validated by - the UNFCCC

Why this program? 

In its Letter of Intent with CAFI, the Republic of Congo committed to ensure that during the revisions of its FREL, the country will provide complete and consistent greenhouse gas (GHG) emission calculations (provided by the Greenhouse Gas Inventory) as well as uncertainties on activity data and emissions factors - (provided respectively by the SSTS and NFI components).  The programme to operationalize the SYNA-MNV will enable the country to meet its commitment to CAFI and the UNFCCC by strengthening the consistency and completeness of its FREL.  

Objectives  

  • Stakeholders’ capacity and data needs in charge of SYNA- MNV are assessed. 
  • SYNA-MNV produces the data needed to monitor REDD+ activities and national forest monitoring capacities are strengthened. 
  • The FREL is revised and submitted to the UNFCCC by mid-2023. It incorporates complete and consistent GHG emissions calculations and uncertainties in activity data and emissions factors.  
  • The capacity of the Centre National d’Inventaire et d’Aménagement des Ressources Forestières et Fauniques (CNIAF) is strengthened to report emissions of the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use sector and results related to the implementation of emission reduction activities in this sector. 
  • The data produced by the SYNA-MNV is available on an open access web geoportal and are published annually in a report for the national audience. 

Preliminary results  

This program was approved in June 2021 and funds transferred in November 2021. Results will be presented here after one full year of effective implementation. 

 

EB.2021.11 - Republic of Congo - Approval of MRV programme.pdf (cafi.org)

EB.2021.11 - Republic of Congo - Approval of MRV programme.pdf (cafi.org), 20 Dec 2022

20 Dec 2022

Project document – SYNA MRV – Republic of Congo

Project document – SYNA MRV – Republic of Congo, 15 Dec 2022

15 Dec 2022

00129333_SYNA-MNV - FAO Folder

00129333_SYNA-MNV - FAO Folder, 20 Dec 2022

20 Dec 2022