Ethiopia is a country with high annual deforestation rate of around 0.93%. Recent estimates indicate that Ethiopia’s high-forest has declined from nearly 40% of land cover a century ago, to approximately 3.6%. To address this, Ethiopia has committed to developing REDD+. The government submitted a REDD+ Program Idea Note (R-PIN) in 2008 and a final REDD+ Preparation Proposal (R-PP) and Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy in 2011 to spearhead national efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2025. A national REDD+ strategy is expected to be finalized during REDD+ Readiness implementation.
Ethiopia’s REDD+ financing landscape is set out below:
Donor government agencies account for 80% of all REDD+ financing flowing to Ethiopia between 2009 and 2012. Approximately 62% of this funding is going to the government of Ethiopia, with the other 38% flowing to Ethiopian NGOs.
Multilateral institution finance accounts for the remaining 20% of the total funds committed, with the majority going to the Government of Ethiopia (US$3,800,000). REDD+ financial flows from multilateral institutions to multilateral implementing agents account for less than 1% of the total funds committed, as only US$140,685 is going to UNDP.
An overview of the REDD+ financing landscape in Ethiopia highlights that just over half of the total REDD+ funding (US$10 million) has been committed by the Government of Norway. Other main donors include DFID and FCPF, which have donated US$5 million and US$3.8 million, respectively. Currently, 99% of REDD+ finance is going to the Ethiopian government or Ethiopian NGOs. The Government of Ethiopia, more specifically the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is scheduled to receive a large majority (68%) of funding committed to Ethiopia, followed by FARMAFRICA (17%) and Ethio Wetland (13%).
A US$200,000 FCPF readiness grant was awarded to Ethiopia in 2009, and a small GEF grant of US$140,000 was committed in 2011, but all other REDD+ finance was committed towards the end of 2012. Although commitments were finalized in 2012, most projects were scheduled to start in 2013. Therefore disbursements were minimal in 2012, leaving an additional US$13.6 million in readiness funds that has yet to be disbursed.
The data presented below highlights levels of REDD+ financing committed and disbursed, main donors, recipients and REDD+ activities in the period between 2009 and 2012