After 18 months of implementation, Sri Lanka CBR+ recently produced a brief documenting lessons from the eight pilot projects.

Community-Based REDD+ (CBR+), a collaboration between the UN-REDD Programme and the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), aimed to inform and build the capacity of indigenous peoples and communities to determine their own involvement in REDD+ processes, and empower them to engage in and influence national REDD+ processes, by testing local level methodologies and approaches. Since 2015, over US $3.5 million have been disbursed through 95 community grants in 6 pilot countries: Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka produced the brief, documenting lessons from the eight pilot projects, following the implementation phase of the project. Of the eight projects, six introduced alternative livelihood options to move communities away from illegal forest use and degradation. Two projects established community-based forest crime reporting methods.

In terms of contributing to the achievement of core CBR+ objectives[1], the CBR+ projects demonstrated success in building the capacity and raising the awareness of communities to engage in REDD+ activities and processes, albeit with limited time and financial resources. It was estimated that almost 4,000 persons had their capacity built in REDD+ through a total of 17 capacity building programs.

With the support of UN-REDD Programme, Sri Lanka produced a five-year (2018 – 2022) National REDD+ Investment Framework and Action Plan (NRIFAP) covering 13 policies and measures. Part of the focus of NRIFAP’s implementation is to ensure gender mainstreaming in stakeholder engagement. CBR+ was able to achieve 50:50 representation of men and women in most of the project activities. In fact, projects in Weligapola and Madu had greater women representation.

Consultation with women in Poomalanthan I, Madu. Credit: Shehani Peris

Several projects introduced livelihood options that generated marketable products. However, market linkages had not been established. As such, one of the recommendations arising from this lessons was to link CBR+ activities with reputed private sector companies to establish market linkages needed for the sustainability of income-generating activities.

One of the projects that stood out was an initiative by Ekabadda Praja Kantha Maha Sanwardana Sangamaya (EPKMSS) to conserve 20km of the western border of Udawalawe National Park and Bambaragala Mukalana Forest through participatory community protection actions. EPKMSS provided strong leadership combined with practical solutions. It helped to establish five community-based organisations, an Environmental Task Force of 20 community leaders representing eight villages, a model agroforest plantation with fruit trees and a large well for continuous supply of water, and dairy farming units to supplement income of the villagers.  Challenges in the project site were thoroughly examined, leading to design of activities that were meaningful to the communities. A baseline survey allowed for quantified assessments of the impacts of the activities. Profits earned from the dairy farms helped improve housing for the communities.

These lessons will be considered when Sri Lanka implements its NRIFAP where 10 of the 13 policies and measures require considerable collaboration and assistance from communities.

Article prepared by Celina Yong, Regional Technical Advisor and Stakeholder Engagement Specialist, UNDP.