The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is a World Bank programme and consists of a Readiness Fund and a Carbon Fund. The FCPF was created to assist developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, enhance and conserve forest carbon stocks, and sustainably manage forests (REDD+).
Graphs and statistics - Carbon Fund
Graphs and statistics - Readiness Fund
- Latest confirmation received from Fund Managers: May 2016. Contributions data and projects data is as of May 2016.
Name of Fund
Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)
Official Fund Website
Date fund proposed: Initial discussions in 2006, concept note dated 16 March 2007.
Date fund made operational: 25 June 2008*.
*The FCPF became operational upon the operational date of the Readiness Fund.
Proposed Life of Fund
Both the Readiness
Fund and the Carbon Fund of the FCPF are established through to 2020.
The World Bank
The FCPF aims to:
financial and technical assistance to:
- Assist eligible REDD
Countries to achieve emission reductions from deforestation and/or forest
- Build recipient
country capacity for benefitting from possible future systems with positive
incentives for REDD;
an emissions reduction performance-based payment system generated from REDD
activities, to ensure equitable benefit sharing and promote future large scale
positive incentives for REDD;
ways within the REDD approach to conserve biodiversity and sustain or enhance
livelihoods of local communities; and
the knowledge gained through the development and implementation of the FCPF and
Activities supported by the FCPF:
- The Readiness Fund helps prepare developing countries for participation in a future, large-scale, system of positive incentives for REDD. This includes support for:
- Developing national reference scenarios for REDD;
- Adopting a national REDD strategy that reduces emissions, conserves biodiversity and enhances the livelihoods of forest-dependent indigenous peoples and other forest dwellers; and
- Designing and implementing accurate measurements, monitoring and verification systems to enable reporting on emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
- The Carbon Fund provides payments for verified emission reductions from REDD+ programs in countries that have made considerable progress towards REDD+ readiness. Assistance is divided into four main categories:
- General Economic Policies and Regulations (taxation, subsidies, rural credit, certification, law enforcement).
- Forest Policies and Regulations (taxation, subsidies, certification, concession regimes, securing land tenure and land rights, forest law, governance and enforcement, zoning, protected areas, payments for environmental services (PES)).
- Forest Management (forest fires, reduced impact logging, reforestation).
- Rural Development (community development, rural electrification, community forestry)
Conditions & Eligibility Requirements
Conditions for participation in the
- Being an Eligible REDD Country
- An eligible REDD country is:
Relevance of Country in the REDD context
- A Borrowing Member State of the IBRD or IDA; and
- Located in the Tropical Area or Sub-tropical Area
Quality of the Readiness Plan Idea Note
- Priority should be given to
countries with the following characteristics:
forest area and carbon stock;
importance of forests in the national economy; and
current or projected deforestation or forest degradation rates.
Geographic and Biome Balance
- Evaluation of R-PIN quality
includes the extent of programme ownership by the government and relevant
stakeholders, coherence with national or sectoral strategies, and feasibility
to reduce deforestation and forest degradation.
Variety of Approaches
- Selection takes into
account the need to balance experiences and learning across different
continents and across the world’s main forest biomes.
- Consideration is given to
approaches that can contribute to the learning objective of the FCPF.
for participation in the Carbon Fund
A few countries that have successfully participated in the Readiness Fund may be selected, on a voluntary basis, to participate in the Carbon Fund (see below for further details).
Accessing the Fund
Participation in the Readiness Fund
- An Eligible REDD Country submits a Readiness Preparation Proposal Idea Note to the Facility Management Team;
- Upon approval by the Participants Committee, the Eligible REDD Country enters into a REDD Country Participation Agreement with the Trustee of the Readiness Fund; and
- The Trustee of the Readiness Fund may enter into one or more Grant Agreements to fund a Readiness Preparation Proposal by a REDD Country Participant.
Participation in the Carbon Fund
A few countries that have successfully participated in the
Readiness Fund may be selected, on a voluntary basis, to participate in the
Carbon Fund. Countries that have made
considerable progress towards REDD+ readiness submit programme proposals that
are assessed according to the following criteria:
- Potential for generating high quality
sustainable emissions reductions and social and environmental benefits;
- Scale of implementation;
- Consistency with emerging compliance standards
under the UNFCCC and other regimes;
- Potential to generate learning value for the
FCPF and other participants;
- Clear and transparent ‘benefit sharing’
mechanisms with broad community support; and
- Transparent stakeholder consultations.
|Monitoring and Evaluation Framework||
Progress on the implementation of FCPF
programmes is monitored through the FCPF dashboard which is updated
monthly, and provides a detailed overview of the status of implementation of
Readiness Preparation Proposals, and a comment on implementation issues.
In June 2013, the Facility Management Team prepared updated the Monitoring and Evaluation
framework. It builds
on country level
monitoring and evaluation efforts to be developed as part of readiness
implementation. It includes the two following core components:
The Result Chain and Logical Framework: which together provide a strategic
overview of the FCPF and support decision-making by illustrating the main
results to be achieved by the Facility at various levels, and their associated
performance indicators. They provide a frame to focus both the monitoring and
evaluation efforts at the Facility level.
The Performance Measurement Framework (PMF): which is based on the Logical
Framework, is the key internal management tool to be used by the Facility
Management Team (FMT) to manage the collection, analysis and reporting on the
performance data that must nourish the monitoring and evaluation functions. It
captures key elements of expected results of the FCPF at the Facility level, by
outlining proposed program indicators for each results level, targets,
baselines, frequency of data collection, data sources and methods, as well as
responsibilities for this data collection and consolidation.
Findings from evaluations
independent programme evaluation in 2011 found that ‘since its inception in 2008, FCPF has made
significant progress in meeting the
first and last objectives (building in-country capacity and
disseminating lessons learned in readiness), but less progress has been made on the two other objectives as
would be expected at this early stage (piloting a performance-based system of
payments; enhancing livelihoods & conserving biodiversity)’.
The Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) template includes a section
for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the R-PPs at the country
level, which requires countries to design a monitoring and evaluation
framework. The template advises that locally-based M&E can feed into
M&E at the national level. ‘The
M&E framework would monitor each component of the R-PP, such as
organisation and consultations,
preparation of REDD+ strategy, development of a national reference scenario,
design of systems for national forest
monitoring and information on safeguards, and schedules and budgets’. However the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group 2012 review suggests that ‘the R-PPs
do not appear to allocate adequate resources for M&E’.
Decision Making Structure
The FCPF governance structure consists of a:
- Participants Assembly;
- Participants Committee;
- Carbon Fund Participants Committee;
- Facility Management Team;
- Trustee of the Readiness Fund;
- Trustee of the Carbon Fund; and
- One or more Ad Hoc Technical Advisory Panels.
The Participants Assembly provides oversight and guidance to the Participants Committee. Primarily a forum for information exchange and knowledge sharing, it is attended by participants from the Carbon Fund, eligible REDD countries and donor countries. To overturn decisions of the Participants Committee, a minimum of two-thirds majority from REDD Country Participants and two-thirds collective majority from Donor Participants and Carbon Fund Participants is required.
Observers to the Participants Assembly:
Representatives of Relevant International Organizations, Relevant Non-governmental Organizations, Forest-Dependent Indigenous Peoples and Forest Dwellers and Relevant Private Sector Entities, may be invited by the Facility Management Team to attend Annual Participant Assembly Meetings as observers.
The Participants Committee is the managerial body responsible
for overseeing and facilitating operations of the FCPF. The Committee
consists of 28 members (14 REDD Country Participants and 14 members
collectively from Donor Participants and Carbon Fund Participants) and each
member is entitled to one vote. Decisions are made by consensus but should efforts to reach consensus
fail, a two thirds majority of members present and voting will suffice.
Observers to the Participants Committee:
One representative each from relevant international
organizations, non-governmental organizations, Forest-Dependent Indigenous
Peoples and Forest Dwellers, private sector entities, the UN-REDD Programme
and UNFCCC Secretariat, will be invited to attend the meetings of the
Participants Committee as observers. These representatives do not have voting rights, but may express their
views on issues under discussion.
The Carbon Fund
The Carbon Fund Participants Committee makes decisions on
specific carbon transactions.
The Facility Management Team is responsible for the
day-to-day operations of the FCPF.
Ad Hoc Technical
One or more Ad Hoc Technical Advisory Panels may be
established by FCPF’s governance bodies (Participants Committee or the
Facility Management Team, etc.) for the purpose of securing technical advice
and information. Each Ad Hoc Technical
Advisory Panel is independent and impartial.
Non-Government Stakeholder Participation
Forest dwelling and indigenous peoples were not consulted prior to the launch of the FCPF in 2007. However, the World Bank responded to criticisms
of this consultation failure, by organising a series of three regional consultations with representatives of forest dwellers and indigenous people in Kathmandu, Bujumbura and La Paz. As a result of these consultations, it was decided that representatives of indigenous peoples would be included on each of the FCPF Technical Advisory Panels and that they are fully consulted in the formulation of national REDD strategies.
The Readiness Fund and each of the Tranches of the Carbon Fund have separate records and ledger accounts. The Fund Trustees provide the Participants with all financial information relating to receipts, disbursements and fund balance via the World Bank’s Trust Funds Donor Centre secure website. Disbursement information is also made available in the FCPF Annual Report and on the FCPF website.
Disclosure PolicyPrior to each Annual Meeting of the Participants Assembly, the Facility Management Team will provide annual progress reports to Participants regarding the activities of the Facility for the previous Fiscal Year.
Additionally, the Facility Management Team shall make the following documents available to the Participants and to the public:
- R-PINs for those Eligible REDD Countries that have been selected as REDD Country Participants, R-PPs, Grant Agreements, reports on implementation of Grant Agreements and any other information submitted by REDD Country Participants;
- Reports and conclusions of the Participants Committee;
- Information on Emission Reductions Programs selected by the Carbon Fund Participants;
- Where appropriate, findings and advice from the Ad Hoc Technical Advisory Panels;
- Information on good practices and lessons of experience learned through operation of the Facility; and
- Any other information as deemed appropriate by the Facility Management Team.
| |The FCPF’s delivery partners are
expected to follow the World Bank’s overarching safeguard policies, which fall
under the following relevant categories: environmental assessments; natural
habitats; forests; physical cultural resources, involuntary resettlement; and
The FCPF Readiness Fund has
adopted a so-called ‘common
approach’ for addressing social and environmental safeguards with multiple
delivery partners. The FCPF has produced joint ‘Programme Guidelines on Stakeholder Engagement in REDD+’ with the
UN-REDD programme, and also requires adherence to its guidance on disclosure of information.
for International Environmental Law (CIEL) advocates a human rights-based
approach to REDD+ safeguards that is consistent with international human rights
obligations and centred on a “do no harm” approach to interventions. It has criticised the FCPF’s safeguard approach for
not being sufficiently rights-based, because the World Bank’s policies and
procedures do not fully reflect existing human rights obligations. On the other
hand, CIEL approves the FCPF’s explicit recognition of the need for a grievance and redress mechanism for instances
when REDD+ activities have unintended negative consequences on local
An external evaluation of the FCPF in 2011 confirmed that the FCPF has made significant progress, specifically in building in-country capacity and disseminating lessons learned. However, the report was critical of the pace of financial commitments and disbursements from the Readiness Fund, the inflexibility of rates to adjust to country needs, the lack of in-country procurement capacity and the limited country level involvement of World Bank staff.
Non-government Stakeholder Consultation and Participation
The FCPF was criticised for its failure to adequately consult non-government stakeholders prior to its public launch in 2007. It responded to these criticisms (see above) however failure to facilitate full consultation and participation of indigenous and local peoples is a recurring criticism.
Human Rights, Indigenous Rights and Traditional/Customary Rights
In a report by the Forest Peoples Programme and FERN, the World Bank was criticised for failing to uphold commitments on human rights. The FCPF Draft Charter fails to include any safeguards for indigenous rights, and there are concerns that the process and content of FCPF ignores traditional and customary rights, implying that all control of forest lands rests with governments.
Civil society groups, including Rainforest Foundation and Global Witness have criticised the Peru R-PP for presenting an incomplete picture of the drivers of deforestation and governance issues, specifically in relation to the on-going conflicts between indigenous groups and industrial logging companies and mining concessionaires. The FCPF process in Cameroon sparked similar concerns, glossing over critical land tenure, carbon rights, and benefit sharing issues.
Relationship with Official Development Assistance
Inclusion as Official Development Assistance?
Financial Instrument/ Delivery Mechanism Used (e.g.
The Readiness Fund is grant-based. Within the Carbon Fund,
funds are delivered in exchange for emission reductions.
Nature of Recipient Country Involvement
The FCPF is characterised by a governance structure that
gives equal weight to developing and industrialised countries. The FCPF respects recipient countries’
national policies and sovereign rights to manage their own natural
resources. Recipient countries’
determine specific strategy options and the manner in which to use the
Readiness Mechanism (to prepare for REDD) or the Carbon Mechanism (to reduce
GHG emissions). The countries are given autonomy to individually prepare and
submit proposals to the Facility under both mechanisms.