In the Republic of Moldova, only about 11% of the country’s territory are covered by forests, which makes it one of the European countries with the lowest forest cover. Deforestation and degradation of forests and protection forests belts contribute to land degradation in many regions of Moldova. Over the last decades, land affected by soil erosion increased by about 6,400 ha annually. Today, about 880,000 ha of land nationwide are eroded, which is equivalent to one-fourth of the country’s total territory or 40% of the agricultural land. The NAMA has the objective to reverse the trend of forest and land degradation and to enhance carbon sequestration by 261,600 tCO2 annually until 2030 by afforesting 45,000 ha of degraded, unproductive land and by establishing 15,000 ha of riparian forest belts and 1,500 ha of protection forest belts in agricultural systems. In total, 61,500 ha will be afforested at an annual afforestation rate of 4,393 ha. Moreover, the NAMA seeks to strengthen capacities of local communities to afforest degraded land, to sustainably manage their forests and pastures and to engage in the development of forest-based small and medium enterprises (SME). To reach its target, the NAMA will use a phased approach consisting of three phases to gradually enhance the capacities of local communities to engage in afforestation, forest management and the development of forest-based SME: Demonstration phase (Phase I, 2018-2019), Scale-up phase (Phase II, 2020-2024) and, Transformation phase (Phase III, 2025-2031).
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