Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in Ensuring the Sustainability of the Mapping Programme

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Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in Ensuring the Sustainability of the Mapping Programme Republic of Kenya Ministry of Environment and Forestry The National Forest Reference Level for REDD+ Implementation August 2020 FOREWORD Kenya is committed to participate in the Global climate change mitigation actions. We have submitted our Nationally Determined Contributions targets which aim to reduce National emissions by 30% and are in the process of updating our NDC based on current national circumstances. We have identified the forest sector as the main source of emission reductions with the hope of converting it from its current status of being a net emitter into a net sink. Guided by our Vision 2030 target of a minimum10% forest cover, Kenya has embarked on a number of forest restoration activities including committing to plant 5,000,000 trees under the Bonn Challenge and identification of an area of 5.1 million ha that has potential for tree based restoration. Our commitment to participate in REDD+ is beyond doubt. After developing the REDD+ Proposal in the year 2012, we noted a need to enhance stakeholder involvement in the REDD+ process which slowed our submission of the relevant documents. Today we are in the process of developing the relevant tools required for REDD+ namely the National REDD+ Strategy (NRS), the Safeguard Information System (SIS), The National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) and now submitted the Forest Reference Level (FRL). The submission of this FRL is evidence enough that Kenya has capacity and is committed to monitor its forest resources which not only supports international reporting but is important for our national and local decision making processes. We note in this report some technological and data limitations but hope that a stepwise improvement programme will enhance the accuracy of our reporting and avail time series information that will inform policy implementation in the conservation of forests, natural resources and Climate change action plans. The submission of this FRL sets the pace for Kenya to finalise on the other REDD+ related documents in readiness to participate in results based payment programmes as described by the Warsaw Framework on REDD+ DR. CHRIS K. KIPTOO, CBS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTRY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to appreciate the efforts that have been put towards the development of this document. Firstly I appreciate the support provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the Capacity Development Project for Sustainable Forest Management in the Republic of Kenya. This is the project that has sourced information and analysed data used to develop the FRL, and organized Technical Working Group meetings to review and improve the FRL document. Complementary to this, the System for Land based Emission Estimation for Kenya (SLEEK), housed at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has mobilized resources to support development of a time series data set of land cover maps which provided land cover change information for this report. Specifically I appreciate the working relationship created by the Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in ensuring the sustainability of the Mapping programme. I appreciate the coordination and guidance provided by the Climate Change Response and REDD+ Coordination office of the Kenya Forest Service who engaged international experts (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The Mullion Group, the Green House Gas Management Institute and The Coalition of Rainforest Nations) to provide comments and guidance. I also note the active participation of members from various institutions who have supported the completion of this assignment. Specifically I note the participation of Karatina University, Dedan Kimathi University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, the Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing, Kenya Forest Service, Conservation International, The Regional Centre for Mapping Resources for Development and the Ministry of Agriculture. I also appreciate the support of the stakeholder team that put the Technical team on its toes ensuring that the final product describes Kenya’s historical emissions With this kind of collaboration, I believe that we can enhance the conservation and monitoring of our forest resources in Kenya. ALFRED N. GICHU, HEAD: DIRECTORATE OF FOREST CONSERVATION; NATIONAL REDD+ COORDINATOR & FOCAL POINT, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT & FORESTRY. ii THE FRL TECHNICAL TEAM Government officers 1. Alfred Gichu - Director of Forest Conservation (Ministry of Environment & Forestry) and National REDD+ Coordinator & Focal Point 2. Peter Nduati – Kenya Forest Service and Project Manager responsible for REDD+ Readiness (CADEP-SFM) 3. Faith Mukabi – Kenya Forest Service (Forest Information Systems) 4. George Tarus – Kenya Forest Service (Climate Change & Response Office) 5. Peter Sirayo – Kenya Forest Service (CADEP – SFM) 6. Mercyline Ojwala Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing Technical Support 1. Kazuhisha Kato – JICA (Team leader REDD+ Readiness Component of CADEP-SFM) 2. Sato Kei - JICA (Remote Sensing Expert REDD+ Readiness Component of CADEP-SFM) 3. Yoshihiko Sato - JICA (Forest Expert REDD+ Readiness Component of CADEP-SFM) 4. Kazuhiro Yamashita - JICA (Former Forest Expert REDD+ Readiness Component of CADEP-SFM) 5. Mwangi Kinyanjui –Karatina University, Kenya(Forest Expert) iii TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ........................................................................................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. ii THE FRL TECHNICAL TEAM ......................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ viii LIST OF ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................................... ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. xi 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Relevance .....................................................................................................................1 1.2. The National Context .................................................................................................1 1.2.1. Country Profile ....................................................................................................1 1.2.2. The Forest Sector ................................................................................................3 1.3. REDD+ in Kenya ........................................................................................................4 2. THE FOREST REFERENCE LEVEL ............................................................................................. 6 2.1. Objectives of developing a National FRL ......................................................................6 2.2. The Building Blocks of the Forest Reference Level ......................................................6 2.2.1. Forest definition........................................................................................................6 2.2.2. Identification of REDD+ Activities ..........................................................................7 2.2.3. Carbon pools ..............................................................................................................9 2.2.4. Scale .........................................................................................................................10 2.2.5. Green House Gases (GHG) ....................................................................................10 2.3. Selection of Reference Period .......................................................................................10 2.3.1. Aligning Reference period to changes in the Forest Sector .................................12 2.3.2. Selecting a Reference period based on mapping tools .........................................12 3. ACTIVITY DATA AND EMISSION FACTORS .......................................................................... 14 3.1. Activity data ...................................................................................................................14 3.1.1. Kenya’s Land Cover mapping programme ......................................................14 3.1.2. Stratification of forests ...........................................................................................16 3.1.2. Mapping land use transitions ..........................................................................20 3.1.3. Assigning Activity Data to REDD+ Activities .................................................21 3.1.4. Land cover change areas between years .........................................................23 3.1.5. Transitions of forests based on land cover change matrices ..........................23 3.1.6. Annual and percentage areas of
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