The BioCarbon Fund’s Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISLF) provides climate finance for selected tropical forest countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the land sector through landscape interventions that reduce deforestation and forest degradation, promote sustainable agriculture and smarter land use planning. Zambia is one of the first ISFL countries and is currently preparing a sub-national jurisdictional program for the Luangwa Valley, where forest landscapes are under increasing pressure from conversion to agriculture. UNIQUE was selected to conduct a technical needs assessment of the relevant institutions to identify the capacity needs and institutional constraints in successfully designing and implementing the program. The assignment builds on UNIQUE’s long-term experience working in Zambia.

• Provide inputs to program design, ensuring it contributes to Zambia’s rural development goals.
• Identify promising sector interventions to reduce deforestation and promote sustainable land use.
• Identify promising sector policies to reduce deforestation and promote sustainable land use.
• Assess technical, institutional and financial needs required for achieving program objectives.
• Propose capacity building strategy to address the institutional and technical gaps.