Under her ENR Programme, is a project titled “Towards pro-poor REDD+ (Phase II): “Promoting pro-poor REDD+ principles and rights-based approaches to strengthen the conservation, governance and sustainable management of landscapes in Uganda.” Environmental Alert is implementing this project in partnership with IUCN – Uganda Country Office and ECOTRUST Uganda. Besides Uganda, this project is also in Cameroon, Ghana, Guatemala, Papua Province of Indonesia. It is implemented by the Global Forest and Climate Change Program of IUCN through partnerships, and is a follow up of the first phase.

The project goal is mainstreaming the Pro Poor Approaches (PPAs) and Human Rights Bases Approaches (HRBAs) through consolidation of the pro-poor approach in targeted landscapes.

The development objective of phase II of the project is that “by 2020, national climate change mitigation initiatives incorporate principles of PPAs and HRBAs to deliver policies and have implemented programs that reduce deforestation and forest degradation whilst simultaneously contributing to the improvement of local livelihoods and long term security of forest carbon stocks in key forest-rich regions.”

The purpose of the project in Uganda is to integrate pro-poor principles and rights-based approaches into the National REDD+ Strategy, and other frameworks for sustainable management of forest resources in the country. The specific outcome of the project will be “A pro-poor REDD+ benefit sharing scheme that clearly incorporates multiple benefits and incentives to the poor is agreed upon, demonstrated and applied in Mt Elgon and Agoro Agu project sites”.

The project is implemented primarily in the Mt. Elgon and Agoro – Agu Landscapes in Eastern and Northern Uganda respectively, to generate practical lessons and experiences. A scooping mission to the targeted landscapes has already been carried out that generated a common understanding and appreciation of the intended project action amongst implementing partners and stakeholders, and selection of specific sites within the targeted landscapes for piloting mainstreaming of PPA and HRBAs in the REDD+ process.