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- REDD+: Location, location, location …
- Coping with climate change in Costa Rica
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- Indonesia’s lessons for REDD+
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Forest Day and the global perspective on forests and climate change
‘I have seen [the CPF] do incredibly important work over the years.… Whilst the focus of the politicians is on the big ticket issues, you make sure that [we] keep focused on environmental and ecological integrity, and on the protection of people’s rights. The overall result [of the climate negotiations] relies on the integrity of the architecture that is put in place here. Please continue to be the conscience of this process.’
Yvo De Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC addressing Forest Day 3
At Copenhagen in December last year, the third Forest Day fully achieved its promise. The day of events was organised by CIFOR, the Government of Denmark and members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. More than 1500 stakeholders attended, including government representatives, 88 journalists, 500 NGO representatives, indigenous leaders, 188 private sector representatives, 34 donors, and hundreds of scientists and forestry experts. Their goal was to ensure that the design and implementation of forest-related climate mitigation and adaptation measures under consideration in the climate change agreement would be effective, efficient and equitable – and more than 250 negotiators were there to listen.
Moreover, one of the indicators of the relevance of Forest Day became clear at Copenhagen – its ability to attract world leaders. Key speakers at the event included Rajendra K. Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement and Nobel laureate; and former US President Bill Clinton, who appeared via video.
Much of the discussion focused on REDD+, or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing carbon stocks. The thinking is simple enough. At present, forest loss and degradation is responsible for a fifth of carbon emissions. Reducing these emissions, and encouraging land-use activities that sequester carbon, should be a priority.
Gro Harlem Bruntland, the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, pointed out that if we continue to destroy forests at the present rate, it will be impossible to reach the target of keeping the increase in global mean temperature under 2 degrees Celsius. ‘Paradoxically,’ she said, ‘the climate crisis not only can, but indeed must, catalyse a salvage operation for the world’s forests.’
Former World Bank chief economist Lord Nicholas Stern argued that one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing the risk of climate change is to halt deforestation. He estimated that we could halve the rate of deforestation for around US$15 billion yearly. ‘One clear lesson when we start to think of how to bring the cost down is that we have to act across the world at the same time,’ he said.
Several speakers stressed the need to respect the rights of local communities. ‘If local users and indigenous peoples in the developing world are not recognised and assigned clear rights, REDD could lead to more deforestation,’ asserted Elinor Ostrom, who had received the Nobel Prize for Economics in Stockholm the week before the Copenhagen conference.
A summary of Forest Day 3, presented to the UN climate change secretariat, stated that two key commitments are needed to get REDD+ off the ground. First, developed nations must provide financial compensation to developing nations for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation. Second, the latter must commit to doing so in ways that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
