The challenge
Côte d'Ivoire’s forests have come under significant pressure in recent decades. At current rates of deforestation, Côte d’Ivoire could lose its entire forest cover by 2034, according to FCPF and UN-REDD. Deforestation drivers include the expansion of cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm and rubber as well as logging, mining and wood fuel extraction for cooking. Many of these activities increase the risk of negative climate change impacts and threaten the productivity of the land on which Côte d'Ivoire’s economy depends.
Forest cover objectives have not yet been mainstreamed into Cote d’Ivoire’s national and sectoral development strategies, and so they are not reflected in domestic and development partner spending priorities.
Forests need to become a national planning priority, and greening the hundreds of billions of West African CFA francs (FCFA) spent annually on business-as-usual agriculture in the country could increase productivity without sacrificing the country’s forests.
The Government of Côte d'Ivoire has recognized this opportunity and has begun work on developing a National REDD+ Strategy and Investment Plan to implement zero-deforestation agriculture and forest cover goals.
Workshop on REDD+ finance
Source: CPI