L’Agence Française de Développement (AFD) signed a concessional loan agreement of €35 million with the Chinese Ministry of Finance to support a rural carbon project in Yunnan province. The project will support rural development and climate change mitigation through the establishment of 15,000 ha of bamboo and 11,000 ha of eucalyptus plantations, 19,000 ha of walnut agroforestry systems, and the installation of 24,000 biogas systems. Beneficiaries will be supported to comply with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sustainable forest management standards and to meet international social and environmental impact planning and monitoring requirements. Based on the first audit mission UNIQUE supported the beneficiaries to achieve the loan objectives and to build management capacity in the project implementation office of the Yunnan Forestry Administration.

• Assessment of project implementation status and on-the-job support.
• Supervise implementation of technical and financial standards.
• Adjustment of implementation plan based on lessons learned from project implementation.
• Inform clients on implementation status.
• Providing FSC compatibility assessment.