BY GREENCOMMS INSTITUTE WRITER

Kenya is gearing up to operationalize a registry that would transform the implementation of emission reduction programmes (ERP) and drive results-based payments for the same, a move expected to open up the lucrative carbon market for players.

The National Registry, established under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry, will enhance transparency and accountability while providing a verifiable platform for tracking activities aimed at reducing emissions triggered by forest degradation and the issuance of carbon credits under the REDD+ initiative.

REDD+ is an acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation; while “PLUS” signifies the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

The registry is part of the key elements that Kenya has developed for REDD+ readiness in the forestry sector, which include the development of the National REDD+ Strategy, the Safeguards Information System, the National Forest Monitoring System, and the Forest Reference Level.

REDD+ registries are viewed as critical tools for central recording of the information necessary to address these issues and facilitate transparency and tracking of that information. REDD+ registries are designed to ensure that vital information is captured, processed, and stored in a consolidated, transparent, and easily interpretable manner.

Tracking and validation are crucial to ensuring environmental integrity across various REDD+ initiatives and promoting transparency and equitable benefit sharing with stakeholders.

According to observers, to date, there is little practical experience illustrating how subnational or project ERPs can be integrated into national accounting.

The operationalization of the Kenya REDD+ Registry would be a game changer, providing centralized information storage and access that would enhance the implementation of ERPs through the use of its market-based mechanism, which is key in driving climate financing.

Limited public awareness regarding carbon trade as a key source of sustainability for green practices and the opportunities open for the grassroots players has been viewed as a significant hindrance to the full exploitation of this climate finance mechanism.

To prepare for its operationalization of the Kenya REDD+ Registry, the Forest Conservation Directorate held a capacity building workshop for an initial cohort of registry end users, who were taken through its workings by experts from S&P Global Commodity Insights, a consultancy labelled as “a leading independent provider of information, data, analysis, benchmark prices, and workflow solutions for the commodities, energy, and energy transition markets.”

Mr Alex Brian Mwangi, Senior Environment Officer at the Forest Conservation Directorate of the State Department for Forestry, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry led the experts in the exercise on Thursday June 12th, 2025, pointing out that it was instructive stakeholders had a good grasp of the operations of the Registry given the immense benefits it would occasion.

More validation engagements would be undertaken to give a cross-section of end-users a feel for the system.

REDD+ financing through the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the UN-REDD Programme, and bilateral initiatives intends to build readiness capacity and explore ways to fund forest carbon emission reductions through results-based payments for emission reduction programs (ERPs) that form part of a national REDD+ strategy.

This public finance could be complemented by private sector initiatives to fund discrete ERPs that could generate emission reductions.

According to experts, ERPs may be national in scope, but many will likely have geographic boundaries set at a level below the national level. Before countries adopt national reference levels, and likely once national reference levels are established, a mechanism is needed to track and validate subnational results-based actions, including payments and crediting (if allowed), by subnational ERPs.

The launch of the Registry, touted as the first in Africa, alongside the National RED+ Strategy developed in December 2021, continues to position Kenya as a key player in climate action on the continent and globally.

According to the Strategy, forests cover approximately 4 billion hectares, or 31 percent of the world’s land surface. According to the Forest Reference Level (FRL), technically assessed by the UNFCCC in 2020, Kenya has a forest cover of 3,462,536 hectares, or approximately 5.9% of the country’s total area in 2018—a decline from the 6.2% in 2002.

This justifies its classification as a country with low forest cover. It is estimated that the world loses about 4.7 million hectares of tropical forest annually, while Kenya loses 12,000 hectares of forest.

This loss is often attributable to the development of infrastructure and other human activities. The wanton destruction of these forests inevitably releases the stored carbon into the atmosphere, causing an imbalance in the carbon cycle.

Deforestation is estimated to cause 12% of global GHG emissions, majorly contributing to anthropogenic climate change (UN-REDD 2018). This is the state of affairs that REDD+ seeks to address and rectify.

The UN-REDD (2018) defines REDD+ “as an effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development.”

It is an international framework that aims to mitigate climate change by incentivising developing country efforts that address the problem of deforestation and forest degradation and those that promote conservation, sustainable forest management, and afforestation and reforestation,” the document states.

Established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), policy frameworks for REDD+ implementation have been addressed in the Bali Action Plan, the Cancun Agreements, the Warsaw REDD+ Framework, and the Paris Agreement, among other decisions of the Conference of the Parties (CoP).

REDD+ can generate other substantial benefits in addition to mitigating climate change, such as biodiversity conservation, water catchment conservation, climate change adaptation, low-emission development, and strengthening the rights and livelihoods of forest peoples.

REDD+ can also stimulate private sector action and enable cooperation with businesses to reduce deforestation associated with the production of key global commodities.

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