Terra Global completed its first field visit and in-person training for the Kulera REDD+ Program since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. After two-and-a-half years, Terra Global team members Erica Meta Smith, Rachel Ross, and Holver Arango traveled to Malawi to meet with Terra’s Local Project Coordinator Team, Alphius Lipiya and Frank Chimpango.
As part of Colombia’s tax reform, the country passed a carbon fuel tax on December 29, 2016 to encourage compliance with their greenhouse gas mitigation goals. Colombia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), committed under the Paris Agreement, is a 20% reduction in emissions by 2030. This carbon tax supports this and is based on the carbon content of each fuel distributed and includes all petroleum products and natural gas used for combustion (other than coal).
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Community Associations NAWIRA and NVA were able to safely host the third-party auditor to verify Program activities on the ground that protect more than 600,000 hectares of forest while engaging more than 200,000 people. Local stakeholders were able to openly express their observations of the Program. Community members were able to communicate in Chichewa to the auditor and share the impact the Program has had on them along with their experiences, needs and any concerns.
Terra Global’s CEO, Leslie Durschinger had the opportunity to meet with Colombian President Iván Duque as well as the Ambassador Francisco Santos Calderón during their visit to San Francisco to meet the directors of venture capital funds. Their visit was aimed to attract greater financial resources to the Colombian ecosystem.
The paper provides high level guidance to governments who are interested in attracting private investment to finance activities being implemented within the context of a national or subnational REDD+ program.
