INTEGRATED COMPANY REPORT 2014 - GIZ. Solutions that work.

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// Honduras
Community forestry and climate change mitigation | The
groundwork has been done: Honduras now has a new forestry
act and a strategy to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
The political framework is thus in place to ensure the sustain-
able management of threatened forest resources in Honduras.
What now remains is to breathe life into the legislation.
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European
Union, GIZ is helping local action groups ensure the sus-
tainable management of public forests under the auspices
of the Community Forestry and Adaptation to Climate
Change programme. The project is working with the
National Institute of Forest Conservation and Development
to make water and power supplies, and agricultural produc-
tion, less vulnerable to the consequences of climate change,
including heavy rainfall and prolonged droughts.
Community forestry involves the state entering into long-
term agreements with local agroforestry cooperatives in
neighbouring municipalities, giving them the right to use
state-owned forests, including the right to fell and sell trees.
The cooperatives undertake only to clear harvestable trees
and to plant new trees to replace those felled. A minimum
of 30 agreements of this sort are to be concluded, ensuring
that at least an additional 550,000 hectares of forested land
will be sustainably managed. The social pressure of the local
communities is expected to put an end to illegal logging in
the project areas more effectively than would be possible
using the police or the army.
Community forestry guarantees that state-owned forests
are sustainably managed, while the income generated by
community forestry activities provides families with regular
additional income. This can be used to push ahead with
development in the villages, whether it takes the form of
accessing renewable energy sources, supporting women’s
groups in cultivating vegetables, or buying new chicken
breeds that lay more eggs.
To help communities adapt to climate change, GIZ also
supports risk analyses that are used as the basis for local
planning, as well as working to prevent slash and burn prac-
tices. The programme is helping protect and manage head-
waters and small water courses that provide the local people
with water for drinking and for their household needs. //
Dual benefits – protecting forests
and securing incomes
01
Contact:
// China
Sino-German energy partnership | In future, China wants its
energy supply to be safe, affordable and environmentally
sound. This will be not only in the country’s own interests,
but also in the interests of the global community. Germany’s
experience and expertise in renewable energy and energy
efficiency are thus in great demand. Back in 2006 a coopera-
tion arrangement on energy policy was agreed between
China’s National Development and Reform Commission
and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
(BMWi). To intensify the energy partnership, BMWi com-
missioned GIZ in 2011 to head the Secretariat responsible
for implementation. GIZ organises specialist dialogues,
forums, workshops and fact-finding trips for the working
groups on energy and energy efficiency. Private companies
from the two countries have the opportunity to meet with
visitors from the realms of research, civil society and politics,
in order to identify joint projects. They also discuss technical
matters such as integrating renewable energy into urban
energy planning, energy efficiency measures in the industrial
and building sectors, and the use of geothermal energy for
heating, as well as discussing enabling environments and
financing issues. The Secretariat is also supporting German
technology providers in initiating cooperation schemes
with Chinese partners. //
Contact: |
German expertise in great demand
// Worldwide
Financing climate action | The money is there. In 2014
around EUR 9.5 billion was paid into the new international
Green Climate Fund (GCF), making it the world’s largest
climate fund practically overnight. The hopes of the UN
Climate Change Conference in Paris at the end of 2015 rest
on the Fund. But developing countries and emerging econo-
mies must be well prepared if they are to apply for GCF
finance and put the funds to good use. The GIZ’s Climate
Finance Readiness Programme, CF Ready for short, is there
to help them. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ is
getting 15 partner countries ready to apply to the GCF for
international funding and to use the cash to good effect.
They must comply with international application and
accounting standards, and plan and implement measures to
achieve results. GIZ does not rigidly follow a standardised
model; we gear our advisory services to the precise needs of
each partner country. Bangladesh for instance is receiving
support to help it select and develop a national coordination
unit for GCF activities. An institution of this sort is one of
the most basic preconditions for receiving GCF funding and
for ensuring that countries have a say in the way the Green
Climate Fund works. The international response to CF Ready
has been positive. The Czech Republic and the American
development agency USAID are already on board, making
this German fitness programme (in which KfW also partici-
pates) a multi-donor project. //
Fitness programme
for a better
climate
Contact:
An
additional
550,000
hectares of sustainably
managed forests
GIZ Integrated Company Report 2014 12 13 Protecting the environment and natural resources