DILI, 19 january 2024 (TATOLI) – EU-Technical Assistance Support to Carbon Farming (EU-TASCF) Project, organized a four-day workshop (15 – 18 january) to design Timor-Leste’s National Land Sector Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) System with the participation of key government agencies, Food and Agriculture Organization, NGOs, private sector and donor projects working on carbon farming. The design included appropriate tools such as the GFOI REDDcompass framework to optimize this design process and ensure a robust system is designed that meets the current and future identified needs of Timor-Leste.
The EU-TASCF project is a three-year project funded by the European Union and being implemented in close coordination with the Government of Timor-Leste entities: National Designated Authority, National Directorate of Climate Change and Directorate General of Forestry and Industrial Plants. The project aims to address gaps in legal, policy and institutional framework in the carbon farming sector. Alinea International, together with consortium partners, is implementing the project.
The project is providing technical assistance to the Government of Timor-Leste on four legal and policy frameworks: updated Nationally Determined Contributions, Climate Change Law, Carbon Farming Policy and Guidelines, and Timor-Leste National Land Sector MRV System design.
A new nationally determined contribution for 2022-2030 has been approved by the Council of Ministers in 2022, with progress on drafting climate change law and carbon farming policy. The design of a Timor-Leste national land sector MRV system has recently been launched and is expected to be completed by 7 March 2024.
At the opening of the workshop, the EU Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Marc Fiedrich said: “EU is proudly funding this exercise as part of its commitment to support the Government in green and sustainable economic development, which is one the priority areas of our cooperation agreement, the Multi Indicative Program 2021-2027. More specifically this support falls under our program on agro-forestry and carbon farming that includes the formulation of an overarching climate change law and carbon farming policy, private sector development and reinforcement of the training capacity in agro-forestry, and community-based projects in agro-forestry and carbon farming.”
Similarly, the Climate Change Ambassador, Adao Soares Barbosa said: “The design of MRV on the land sector would help GoTL develop a clear road map of institutional framework, tools, and resources required for effective implementation of carbon farming activities in the country.”
The President of the National Designated Authority, Pedro da Costa said: “The design of MRV system for a land sector would be useful for the country to facilitate effective implementation of carbon farming activities.”
In the design process of the Timor-Leste national land sector MRV system, stakeholder engagement was conducted through several structured and systematic consultations/workshops aimed at defining:
- The goals of the GoTL related to the MRV is to clarify the objective and scope of the MRV and ensure all stakeholders understand the direction and goals of this system.
- The institutional arrangements required to implement the designed MRV including addressing the design questions raised in the mullion report.
- Data, systems and both internal and external support required to achieve the GoTL goals including identifying lead and support agencies as well as identifying lead staff and supporting staff from the key GoTL directorates.
- Assessment of the capacity gaps and needs of the GoTL and suggested capacity building plan to address these gaps.
The final output from the consultation and structure workshops produced a design document for Timor-Leste’s National Land Sector MRV system covering decisions and priorities identified in the workshop engagement process including National policy development, UNFCCC reporting, REDD+, carbon farming, and private sector needs with a cost for major activities for implementation in the future.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
