The national forest monitoring system is a key component in the management of information on the National REDD+ Programme. all Parties establishing a National REDD+ Programme are required to establish a national forest monitoring system to support the functions of measurement, reporting and verification of actions and achievements of the implementation of REDD+ activities.
A fully functional monitoring system has to go beyond the requirements of the UNFCCC, to include issues such as a registry of projects and participants and evaluation of Programme achievements and policy effectiveness.
The national forest monitoring system will operate at all levels of forestry management. Of particular interest, in addition to the national-level functions, are functions performed at the Counties and how they relate to the functions of other stakeholders at the national (vertical integration) and sub-national (horizontal integration) levels.
Following the upcoming devolution of government, the implementation arrangements need to be revisited, specifically looking at the role of the county government.
National forest monitoring systems should be flexible, allow for improvement and build upon existing forest system in a country. They should reflect the phased approach of REDD+ implementation and enable the assessment of different types of forest in the country according to national definitions, including natural forest. They may also provide relevant information to the safeguards information systems.
Having the national or, as an interim measure, subnational forest monitoring system in place is one of the requirements in order to be eligible for results-based payments. Once developed the National Forest Monitoring System will be used to measure, report and verify the effects of the National REDD+ strategy in the country.
