Uganda became the first African country to receive a UN Green Climate Fund results-based payment for REDD+, with FAO channelling $31 million for verified 2016–2017 forest emission reductions of over 8 million tonnes of CO2, even as agriculture still drives ~90% of deforestation.
31 USD million
GCF results-based payment
>8 million tonnes CO2
Verified net emission reductions (2016-2017)
~90%
Share of forest loss from agricultural expansion
Details
Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Water and Environment (Uganda); FAO (GCF Accredited Entity)
Period
2016–2017 results period; GCF Board approval October 2025
Keywords
forest carbon, REDD+, results-based payments, national programme, MRV
Context
In October 2025 the Green Climate Fund approved Africa's first REDD+ results-based payment to a national government: USD31M to Uganda, channelled through FAO, for verified 2016-2017 forest emission reductions.
Results
FAO and UN-REDD report net emission reductions of over 8 million tonnes of CO2 for the results period, following a 16-year policy process including Uganda's National REDD+ Strategy (2017) and an ART-TREES concept note (2022).
Conclusions
Agricultural expansion still drives nearly 90% of Uganda's forest loss, so the payment rewards a historical verified period rather than proof the underlying deforestation driver is resolved.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Water and Environment forestry/REDD+ programme staff, FAO as GCF Accredited Entity
Conditions for success
sustained technical cooperation and finance
addressing agricultural drivers of deforestation
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Claim it —
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
Indonesia's Landsat-based national forest-carbon MRV system verified emission cuts that triggered two results-based payments: $56m from Norway (11.23 Mt CO2e, …
Suriname (~93% forest cover) runs a national jurisdictional REDD+ programme (NIMOS/SBB) that generated ~10M tCO2e in UNFCCC-validated results, 2018-2020. A …