The Korea Forest Service (KFS) of the Republic of Korea and the Secretariat of Natural Resources and the National Institute of Forest Conservation and Development of the Republic of Honduras signed a five-year bi-lateral cooperation agreement on Tuesday, January 21 2025, on the implementation of Articles 5 and 6 of the Paris Agreement.
The partnership aims to promote the implementation of both Article 5 and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement at national level. The collaboration will include support on capacity building, exchange of information, knowledge sharing, best practices, and experience of implementing mitigation outcomes frameworks and policies governing the management and development of greenhouse gas mitigation activities and resources.
Honduras and Korea will also apply corresponding adjustments, share, and transfer the Mitigation Outcomes generated from the mitigation activities under Article 5, based on mutually agreed-upon quantities and timelines in accordance with the CMA guidance.
“Our goal, as a rainforest nation, is to implement the UN-compliance carbon market for the forestry sector at the national level in following Article 5.2 and additionally fulfilling all of the requirements of Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, recently regulated at COP29 in Baku,” said Lucky Medina, Minister of Environment, Honduras. “These types of national partnerships are critical for the environmental integrity of the new UN carbon markets under Article 6.”
The Republic of Honduras has already complied with Article 5 of the Paris Agreement on REDD+, voluntarily reporting its national forest reference level (FREL), and covering at national level the activities reducing emissions from deforestation, reducing emissions from forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forest, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
This has been carried out in accordance with decisions 1/CP.16, 12/CP. 17, and 13/CP. 19 of the Paris Agreement. As a result, the Biennial Update Report for the Republic of Honduras includes REDD+ Results for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, transactable as ITMOs under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Coalition for Rainforest Nations, a US not-for-profit, has been working with Honduras both on capacity building and institutional frameworks throughout the ITMO development process. ITMO Ltd will support Honduras on the sale of its ITMOs.
To begin the partnership, both countries will cooperate on a pre-feasibility study and a feasibility study toward the development and implementation of a UN REDD+ Programme for implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The initial partnership is set for five years with the option to renew.