The Project Strengthening national forest Inventory and Satellite Land Monitoring in Support of REDD+ in Bangladesh is signed on 18th March 2015 to assist the FD to set up the Bangladesh Forest Inventory and develop complete and sound updated information on the forest and tree resources. The Bangladesh Forest Inventory is a comprehensive process under the Forest Department that will assess, evaluate, interpret and report on the tree and forest resources status and the derivation of information, from repeated inventories that allow for the monitoring of change and trends over time. This technical process includes the data compilation and analyses of tree and forest resources from a multitude of data sources, including field inventories and remote sensing.

This project will strengthen capacities for forest monitoring and assessment and Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) activities in the forestry sector will be supported. The results of the national forest monitoring are needed to support the national policy processes and introduce integrated approach to forestry resources assessment that addresses domestic information needs as well as international reporting requirements. In this way, the FD will assist the GoB to in contributing to several national objectives including the assessment of national tree and forest assessment, the REDD+ reporting requirements, the production of data required for other international agreements, and support to national forest policy and land management.

To address these aims, the project will assist FD to build capacity related to the Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of REDD+ and establish a specialized Unit, update information on forest and tree resources and put in place a long term satellite monitoring system for forest ecosystems. Collaboration between the Forest Department, related government agencies and International institutions is contributing to knowledge sharing required for an effective forest monitoring system to be established.

The project duration is 4 years. The project is funded by the United Stated Agency for International Development (USAID) and is supported with technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), SilvaCarbon.

The project will produce three main outputs:

Output 1: General conditions to implement the national forest inventory reinforced

Output 2: NFI and SLMS strategy reinforced

Output 3: NFI and SLMS implemented

Output 4: Value of forest ecosystem goods and services estimated.

Bangladesh has the potential to receive benefits from the UNFCCC for emission reductions under REDD+ mechanism. While the financial modalities have not been yet defined, result based actions will be measured, reported and verified. According to the decision 14/CP.19 of the UNFCCC, measuring, reporting and verifying anthropogenic forest-related emissions reductions is to be consistent with the methodological guidance provided in decision 4/CP.15, and any guidance on the MRV of nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties as agreed by the COP. In addition, the data and information for MRV should be provided through a technical annex to the biennial update reports, underlining that the submission of the technical annex is voluntary and in the context of results-based payments. In addition, the decision specifies that results-based actions that may be eligible to appropriate market-based approaches that could be developed by the COP may be subject to any further specific modalities for verification.