Nyimba forest project

In the Nyimba Forest Project (NFP) in Lusaka, Zambia, FTA’s partner CIFOR sought to effectively engage local communities in monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) local forest management interventions.

The aim was to contribute data to the formulation of a comprehensive national REDD+ strategy (NRS) for Zambia. This was the first research intervention to provide supporting data for the national REDD+ development process.

Through the NFP, the Government of Zambia aims to enhance participatory approaches and the role of traditional authorities in forest management and monitoring in high-value forests in open areas. The MRV process was developed to improve the participation capacity of local communities.

The project shows promising results. Communities in eight villages (Chinsimbwe, Luembe, Mwape, Ndake, Ng’ambwa, Nyalungwe, Pondani and Zuwalinyenga) actively participated in the project, recording the generation of forest and carbon stock volumes, and improving their knowledge of MRV.

The positive attitude engendered has prompted the villagers to produce their own village forest management action plans. It is expected that these results will help communities to manage village forests sustainably, securing the resource for almost 175,000 people.