The Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines was approved for a second Readiness support grant which will assist with the capacity building and planning mechanism to guide the country in becoming REDD+ ready. In light of this, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning, Sustainable Development and Information Technology, National Designated Authority (NDA), hired AAE to develop a comprehensive National REDD+ Strategy and Action Plan, which will guide the country towards participation in the REDD+ mechanism. This will be achieved through participatory actions in the form of stakeholder engagement, training and working sessions with the Forestry Division, National REDD+ Steering Committee (NRSC) and other key stakeholders.

Main tasks

• Organize and conduct an inception meeting with the Forestry Division, cultural and forest dependent communities, members of the NRSC and other stakeholders on REDD+ matters including the private sector;
• Identify and characterize the key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, and design conservation and sustainable forest management activities and reduce emissions;
• Identify how current land use, and forest law, policy and governance structures impact on the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation;
• Propose alternatives for mitigating the identified drivers and responding to impacts;
• Engage the NRSC and the NC to develop the Strategy and Action Plan;
• Propose alternatives for mitigating the identified drivers and responding to impacts;
• Conduct awareness and capacity building sessions on REDD+ for the members of the NRSC members and other key stakeholders.

Main outputs

• Inception Report including description of methodology and Finalized Work Plan;
• National REDD+ Strategy;
• National Redd+ Action Plan;
• Final Report on the Capacity Building and Training Sessions.