Fiji National REDD+ Emission Reductions Program (FCPF ERPA)

In January 2021, Fiji became the first Small Island Developing State to sign an Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Carbon Fund. The agreement commits up to US$12.5 million in results-based payments for verified reductions in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The programme covers roughly 90% of Fiji's land area, centred on the main islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu and Taveuni, home to 86% of the national population. It is promoted by the Republic of Fiji's Ministry of Forestry in partnership with the FCPF Carbon Fund.

Over its five-year term (2021-2026), the Emission Reduction Program targets cutting 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 through integrated land-use planning, native forest conservation, and sustainable management of pine and mahogany plantations. It aims to address agricultural expansion and unsustainable logging, identified as Fiji's main deforestation drivers, while generating soil retention and flood-regulation co-benefits.

A nationally negotiated benefit-sharing plan was developed through stakeholder consultations at national and local level, setting out how any resulting payments are to reach government, landowning mataqali (clans) and local communities. As an FCPF Carbon Fund agreement, payments are strictly results-based, released only once emission reductions relative to an agreed reference level are measured and independently verified.

As of the most recent public reporting, the programme remained in its implementation and MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) build-up phase. The US$12.5 million figure is a ceiling contingent on verified performance rather than a sum already disbursed, and independently verified emission-reduction totals had not yet been separately published, illustrating the multi-year lag typical of results-based REDD+ finance.

As an FCPF Carbon Fund agreement, the ERPA functions as a live test of whether jurisdictional REDD+ payments can be operationalised at national scale in a Pacific Small Island Developing State. Its structure ties finance strictly to independently verified outcomes, meaning the ultimate policy lesson depends on verification results that are not yet public.