<note tip>Call for the ICI Initiative</note>

The Congo Basin Forest Partnership works in close relationship with the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC), the regional body in charge of forest and environmental policy, coordination and harmonisation, with the objective to promote the conservation and sustainable management of the Congo basin's forest ecosystems.

Text der Bundesregierung 'Die grüne Lunge Afrikas schützen

FAO Document on Tropical peatland. This text contains statistics on the extent of tropical peat in the tropics.

Peat map. This map shows the extent of peat on a global scale.

Schumann M. & Joosten H. (2008) Global peat restoration manual

EGC Project, Quantifying and understanding tropical peatland spatial distribution and carbon storage in Central Africa by Simon Lewis (University of Leeds)

Carbon and water cycles in tropical papyrus wetlands by M. J. Saunders Æ M. B. Jones Æ F. Kansiime in Wetlands Ecol Manage (2007) 15:489–498

Wetland uses in the tropics and their implications for the global carbon balance by Cruz, 1982!

Tropical wetlands initiative For climate adaptation and mitigation, TWINCAM by US-AID

Wetland carbon cycle responses to hydrological change: Impacts on regional and global carbon budgets by Benjamin N. Sulman

Global Inventory Of Wetlands And Their Role In The Carbon Cycle at Ideas

Wetlands and the global carbon cycle: what might the simulated past tell us about the future? Jason K. Keller. New Phytologist, Volume 192, Issue 4, pages 789–792, December 2011

Biogeochemistry of Wetlands (Talk)

Carbon and water cycle interactions in a temperate wetland

Nature 416, 617-620 (11 April 2002), doi:10.1038/416617a; Received 31 August 2001; Accepted 22 February 2002, Outgassing from Amazonian rivers and wetlands as a large tropical source of atmospheric CO2, Jeffrey E. Richey1, John M. Melack2, Anthony K. Aufdenkampe1, Victoria M. Ballester3 & Laura L. Hess2

Wetland Restoration: The Best Alternative to Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies?

Carbon sequestration in wetlands: Concept and estimation

North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites

Grands Lacs and Switzerland

La conférence des Grands Lacs

Can REDD+ contribute to private sector development in sustainable fuelwood and charcoal production in Rwanda?

<note important>Carbon, biodiversity & ecosystem services: exploring co-benefits. This is a key document. Funding came from BfN and BMU.</note>

Redd readiness fact-sheet Congo

Preparing for REDD in the Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s REDD+ Potential Policy Brief of Wetlands International for the role of peatlands for REDD+: WI recommends that peatlands are a “key category” for climate change mitigation, that SBSTA facilitates the full understanding of the particularities of peatswamp forests and other, non-forested peatlands (or organic soils) in the context of REDD and AFOLU at large.

Slideshare Talk of the Role on Wetlands: Key points are to halt carbon dioxide emissions by re-wetting drained peatland.

Presentations and talks related to peatland, carbon management namely the role of peatlands in the post-Kyoto time

Verified Carbon Standard

Wetlands International - Policy Brief for the role of wetlands for REDD

Ecosystem Climate Alliance

the REDD desk

Peat in the Kyoto Protocoll and in the post-2012 legislation

Agricultural encroachment: implications for carbon sequestration in tropical African wetlands. Matthew J. Saunders1, Frank Kansiime, Michael B. Jones (2012) DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02633.x.

Tropical wetlands: seasonal hydrologic pulsing, carbon sequestration, and methane emissions

Tropical wetlands: seasonal hydrologic pulsing, carbon sequestration, and methane emissions

Carbon sequestration in tropical wetlands of Costa Rica by B. Bernal and W. J. Mitsch

Mangroves & Coastal Wetlands Store 50 Times More Carbon Than Tropical Forests by Area

Tropical Wetlands Sequester 80% More Carbon than Temperate Wetlands

Tropical Wetlands Hold More Carbon Than Temperate Marshes

Carbon Sequestration and Methane Emissions in Tropical and Temperate Wetlands

Study by researchers at Ohio State University finds that created wetlands serve as a poor substitute for natural wetlands in terms of sequestering carbon.

Terrestrial Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide

Carbon sequestration. Focus of Nature Geoscience of 12.2009

Acceleration of global warming due to carbon-cycle feedbacks in a coupled climatemodel

Durban enables wetlands carbon accounting

The Great Lakes Region is undergoing rapid socio-economic changes with an anticipated growth of between 5 and 8.5 % in a partly fragile political context. Rwanda, one of the few tropical countries managing to increase carbon stocks by aforestation, has developed and is currently establishing (as this proposal is being written) masterplans for irrigation, water resources and sustainable energy development for the next decades until 2035. Although the paradigm of integrated and cross-sectoral development and planning is widely accepted, not all of these projects and masterplans, often funded and initiated by international donors, consider side effects on other sectors: ambitious plans for the extension of irrigation to 600.000 ha have been drafted, hydro-power development is planned 10 times the current capacity is planned. The mutual effects of land-use changes on the water and the energy sectors, their impact on carbon and water cycles and on biodiversity and the repercussions on ecological services and livelihood are not weighed jointly at the current stage. A first analysis of carbon storage, biodiversity and ecosystem services and their potential co-benefits by UNDEP-WCMC and funded by BMU pointed towards a conjunctive assessment: Developing a balanced approach optimizing existing co-benefits. It was clearly stated that this approach should be developed in cooperation with institutional partners.

The approach requires an environmental and economic assessment considering land-use, impacts on water and carbon stocks and ecosystem services and their mutual dependencies. Moreover, the approach should provide strategic options and a joint strategy that can not be found by sectoral masterplans.

We are currently involved in the development of the master plan of water resources that will be finalized in October 2013. Masterplans for hydro-power development and for the development of irrigation have been established. Preliminary studies on the potential of forest and wetland management for REDD have been carried out.

We propose to integrate all available masterplans for agriculture/irrigation, water resources and hydro-power and the existing studies on wetlands and carbon stocks and to assess the mutual impacts of these plans on each other and on carbon stocks and cycles. We further propose, based on the finding of the cross-validation of these masterplans, to carry out a strategic assessment of development options that integrates all these plans.

Rwanda provides excellent conditions for such a study: Governance in Rwanda has reached a considerable standard. The country is small but represents a nucleus for transferring results to the whole region regional institutions and conferences such as the Great Lakes Region Conference. As a headwater region of the Nile river basin and due to its numerous wetlands it plays an important role for the hydrological regime of the upper Nile. The national strategy of conserving the remaining natural forest and of aforestation demonstrates the recognition of the role of eco-system functions. The desastrous effects of deforestation on erosion and productivity and of drainage of wetlands on hydrological regimes have led to a high level of consciousness for impacts on ecosystems.

One of the results of the Durban conference is the possibility to include the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from wetlands. These are the cited works [pop00002].

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from natural and drained wetlands in Central Africa and to quantify this effect for different planned land-use development schemes.

To carry out a conjunctive strategic assessment based on already existing masterplans for irrigation, water resources and energy in combination with a re-assessment of for carbon stocks and ecolosystem services for Rwanda. The study will investigate the mutial impacts of each of the masterplans on the other sectors and assess their environmental costs for the other sectors (water, carbon, ecosystem services, livelihood). Based on the cross-correlation of eath sectoral master plan strategic options for an optimized conjuctive approach will be proposed.

• A1: Analyse the existing masterplans for irrigation, water resources and energy.
• A2: Re-assessment of the carbon stocks and of their dependency on different land-use schemes and management options.
• A3: Cross-correlation of sectoral developments
• A4: Strategic assessment of conjuctive development options
• A5: Consulting for donors and evaluation of their proposed actions
• A6: Putting wetland and carbon management on the agenda of the Conférence des Grands Lacs
• A7: Knowledge base of LUCIWES

Re-assessment of the masterplan for irrigation and of the use of wetlands. Land-use strategies integrating aforestation (hill-top) agriculture with agro-forestry, irrigation in suitable places and wetland conservation with sustainalbe energy production and viable socio-economic options for the rural population.

Improved planning of donor activities.

Expanding network of REDD activities including forest and wetland management in the tropics.

Currently sectoral plans are proposed with some donor support that are not always cross-validated. An overarching conjunctive planning opens opportunities for joint strategies and co-benefits. At this moment masterplans have been established with considerable efforts. This is a prospice moment for evaluating these masterplans and for assessing their mutual impacts on each other. A conjunctive strategic assessment of all masterplans helps to develop:

1. more consistent plans
2. identify options not meaningful in sectoral plans

The fact that Rwanda has a central role in the region and that a mechanism for cooperation (CGL) exists and that similar studies on REDD have been carried out in Congo, Burundi, Tanzania encourages us to believe that a pilot study in Rwanda can be transferred to at least part of the region.

The region engages on a greener development path than other tropical countries, preserving the remaining tropical forest, preserving most of the carbon-rich wetlands and developing strategies for a viable agriculture and a sustainable management of water and carbon resources. Sustainable energy will play an important role, the impact of hydro-power development on water resources and carbon stocks are understood and taken into account when implementing the master plan on hydro-power. The impact of irrigation and on draining wetlands on carbon stores, on water resources and on hydro-power is understood and taken into account when implementing the masterplan. Co-benefits are used: Hydro-power stations are used to regularize the regime and to re-wet tropical wetlands. Irrigation schemes are developed in a way that carbon emissions and methan production are minimized.