Transcript Challenges, opportunities and recommendations for private

Challenges, Opportunities and Recommendations for
private sector participation in REDD+
Erastus W. Wahome, Ministry of Finance – Kenya, 2nd
April 2012
Introduction
 The private sector has an enormous role to play in
undertaking the investment and technological
innovation that will underpin low carbon growth,
providing finance for mitigation and adaptation,
adopting lower carbon production processes, and
encouraging and facilitating more climate conscious
REDD+.
 The potential of the private sector to scale up investment in
opportunities associated with climate change is high:
globally, 60% of climate finance is estimated to originate
from private sector.
Cont…
 BUT this cannot happen unless a clear regulatory
framework and policies are in place to provide a better
environment for the private sector investment in RED+.
• Clear and appropriate incentives need to be created. These
include: Policies, Regulations, financial incentives etc.
• For example, Policy incentives will no doubt determine the
scale and nature of private sector involvement in REDD+
Cont…
• The establishment of a clear policy framework is
important since it creates an environment that is
conducive to private sector engagement.
• It gives the private sector greater confidence to
undertake REDD+.
Cont…
• Reviews
and studies undertaken suggests that
consulting and partnering with the private sector in
developing REDD+ strategies can help increase the
feasibility and market-friendliness of policies that are
proposed.
• Identifying and overcoming the barriers to investment
in REDD+ will be particularly important.
Cont…
• Policy makers need to establish rules of the game
including revenue sharing mechanisms between
the project developers and other beneficiaries.
• There could be more win-win scenarios if all parties
work together and find innovative and effective
solutions to promoting sustainable REDD+ activities
in the Kenya.
Regulatory and Policy framework in Kenya
REDD+ Legislation
• Kenya has no specific regulation or policy on
REDD+
• But there exists broad range of sector policies
and regulations, e.g. environmental
conservation, forestry, energy, manufacturing,
natural resources or foreign direct investment,
are of relevance.
Institutional framework
REDD+ coordination and mainstreaming
 While Kenya has made remarkable move in prioritizing
and engendering environment and climate change in her
development agenda, it is important to take cognizance of
the fact that coordination and governance of the same
remain spread across different government Ministries and
Agencies. Five government Ministries are involved:
1. The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) which houses
the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC)
charged with the overall climate change coordination and
provision of guidance on climate change activities to the
implementing sectors and the stakeholders;
Cont…
2. Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources
where the National Climate Change (NCCRS)
Secretariat sits with the wider mandate of
implementing the NCCRS and coordinating sectoral
climate change activities.
3. Ministry of Forest and Wildlife under which the
Kenya Forest Service (KFS) falls. KFS is in charge of
the REDD PLUS Readiness Plan;
Cont…
3. Ministry of Finance whose Carbon Finance Unit
(CFU) tasked with climate change policy financing
and investment sand enhancing Public-Private
Participation in carbon projects; and
4. Ministry of Planning, National Development and
Vision 2030 whose planning division has the
mandate of mainstreaming climate change in
development plans
Cont…
6. Besides the government Ministries and agencies, the
Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), individual
industries and National NGOs like the Kenya Climate
Change Working Group (KCCWG), Kenya Forest
Working Group, Pact-Kenya are also involved in
environment and climate change initiatives. There are
also international NGOs such as Africa Wildlife
Foundation (AWF), World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), OXFAM, CORDAID, CARFOD, Norwegian
church aid henrichboll foundation and Care which
undertake environmental conservation and climate
change-related activities.
Challenges
• Funding
• Limited Engagement between the private and the
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public sector on REDD+
Poor coordination and duplication of efforts;
Overlapping mandates between the various players
Lack of data on private sector involvement.
Policy formulation and openness
Political uncertainties in the country
Uncertainty of carbon markets
Opportunities
 The public and private sector participation provides an
opportunity for involvement, ownership and
partnerships in environmental management and
conservation.
 Room for open and constructive dialogue between the
public and private sector to determine the rules of
engagement
 Leveraging private sector investments in REDD+ is
possible. SREP provides a good model.
Cont..
 Carbon Investments and Trading in Kenya will
provide the right incentives for the private sector.
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Draft policy in place
Draft to be validated in May this year by
experts
Parliamentarian Committee on Environment
awareness creation workshop in June this year.
Recommendations
 The establishment a regulatory and policy framework
will provide a better environment for private sector to
participate in REDD+.
 To unlock and scale up private sector investment, an
attractive ‘investment climate for REDD+ initiatives is
required to remove the key barriers to the deployment
of private capital.
 A broad institutional and fiscal reform and increased
financial commitments through a joint governmentprivate sector effort is required.
THANK YOU