Oromia Forested Landscape Program

Program Overview

The Oromia Forested Landscape Program (OFLP) seeks to reduce deforestation by improving sustainable forest management throughout Ethiopia's Oromia Regional State, and lowering GHG emissions from land use, including from the livestock sector, by encouraging better herd management.

Program name	Oromia Forested Landscape Program (OFLP)
Jurisdiction	Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia
Size of jurisdiction	32 million hectares, of which 9 million are forests
Population in jurisdiction	More than 30 million
Drivers of land use change	- Small-scale conversions for agricultural expansion - Extraction of fuelwood for charcoal
Accounting area	All forested landscape in Oromia, including livestock and agriculture
Implementing agency	Oromia Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Authority and regional bureaus
ISFL Funding	- $18 million in grant financing - Potential payments of up to 10 million tons of emission reductions
Co-financing	$3 million loan from IFC for investment services in the coffee sector

The OFLP is supported by a five-year $18 million grant that will be followed by results-based payments for verified emission reductions for up to 10 years. Grant-supported activities include investment in participatory forest management and reforestation in targeted deforestation hotspots. The program also invests in statewide and local enhancements to strengthen systems related to safeguards, forest monitoring, and cross-sector coordination.

The OFLP has three components:

Enabling investment, which includes sub-basin land-use planning support, investment and extension services, and forest management investment in deforestation hotspots through participatory forest management and afforestation/reforestation;
Enhancing the enabling environment by financing complementary activities to increase the effectiveness and positive impact of institutions, policies, marketing, benefit sharing, strategic communication, measurement, reporting and verification, and safeguards management at the state and local levels; and
Delivering emission reductions payments once results have been achieved, verified by a third party, and formally reported to the World Bank.

Country Context

Drivers of deforestation

Small-scale conversions for agricultural expansion, as subsistence agriculture is the main economic activity throughout Oromia.
Inefficient livestock production, resulting from limited access to livestock feed and fodder.
Extraction of fuelwood for charcoal—firewood is the primary source of energy for 94 percent of Ethiopia’s population and the most important forest product consumed in Ethiopia, its total consumption exceeding 116 million m3 in 2013. Most firewood is produced from natural forests, including woodlands and shrub lands, and current firewood demand is estimated to significantly exceed the sustainable yield potential of the remaining forest area.
Indirect drivers include inadequate development and implementation of land-use plans, weak cross-sectoral policy and investment coordination, population growth in and migration to forested areas, and road expansion.

Key commodities and sectors

Coffee; spices and honey
Livestock and dairy
Subsistence agriculture, based on cultivation of diverse crops such as barley, wheat, beans, potatoes, cabbage in highlands, and bananas, maize, and teff grains in lowlands

Policy interactions and green growth strategies

Ethiopia’s development agenda is governed by two key strategies: the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-2) and the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE). Both strategies prioritize attainment of middle-income status by 2025 and, through the CRGE Strategy, achieving this by taking steps in support of low-carbon, resilient, green growth.
The CRGE Strategy reports that agriculture and forestry would “contribute around 45 and 25 percent, respectively, to projected greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels by 2030 under business-as-usual assumptions, and together account for around 80 percent of the total abatement potential.”

NDC commitments

Ethiopia intends to reduce its net GHG emissions from 400 million to tCO2e to 145 million tCO2e or less by 2030. This would constitute a 64 percent (255 million tCO2e) reduction from the business-as-usual 2030 scenario.