Positive steps for REDD+ at conclusion of UN climate meeting 

 

All eyes are now on Paris as the race to finalize a global climate deal in 2015 heats up. While negotiators took a pass on finalizing the remaining elements of an international mechanism to reduce emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) - the second-largest source of emissions that cause climate change - at the UN climate change meeting in Lima in December, there were a number positive advances during the conference. 

 
 
Greetings from WWF's global Forest and Climate Programme, and thank you for subscribing to Canopy. In this issue, we highlight people working across the globe in REDD+, and  bring you the latest REDD+ events, learning tools and information from WWF's global Forest and Climate Programme team.

Forest countries call for international collaboration to achieve emissions reductions

 

An official event hosted by the government of Peru in late December focused on how national and regional governments, developed and developing countries, civil society, indigenous peoples and the business sector can join forces to deliver on the goals of the New York Declaration on Forests launched at the UN Climate Summit in September.   

 

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© Andres Snyder

WWF commends Norway and Guyana for efforts to make REDD+

 

In October, World Wildlife Fund Guianas welcomed Guyana President Ramotar's announcement of Norway's 2012 calendar year performance-based payment into the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund.   

 

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© Courtesy WWF-DRC

Communities in Democratic Republic of Congo plant 60,000 trees in support of reforestation efforts

 

At the end of 2014, community members in the Province of Bandundu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) participated in a large-scale reforestation effort supported by WWF-DRC in collaboration with a number of NGOs.

 

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WWF Forest and Climate Programme learning sessions are free and are designed to leverage and share REDD+ knowledge and expertise. Every month, we invite a REDD+ expert to present on a key issue so that REDD+ practitioners can have access to the latest information relevant to REDD+.

 

To watch an archived Learning Session or to register for an upcoming webinar, please visit: bit.ly/REDDlearn 

 

Learning Session: REDD+ Outcomes from COP20

 

Peter Graham and Josefina Braña-Varela, both of WWF's Forest and Climate Programme, discuss forest, climate and REDD+ outcomes from the recent UN climate change meeting in Lima, Peru, and outline potential next steps.

Learning Session: Expectations for REDD+ at UNFCCC COP20

 

Josefina Braña-Varela, Policy Director of the WWF Forest and Climate Programme, discusses the challenges and opportunities for REDD+ at the UNFCCC COP20 in Lima, Peru.

Learning Session: Indigenous peoples' and community conserved territories and areas


Cristina Eghenter, Social Development Deputy Director with WWF-Indonesia and Civil Society Stream Leader for the Borneo Programme, shares on her work as part of the Social Development for Conservation (SD4C) network which focuses on WWF's cross-cutting social issues in conservation: poverty, equity, and indigenous peoples.

© Courtesy Pat Hardcastle

Pat Hardcastle   

 

Patrick (Pat) Hardcastle is a Forestry Development Specialist and was Team Lead for the recently concluded Norad/NICFI four-year evaluation. 

 
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© Courtesy Chuck Hutchinson

Chuck Hutchinson  

 

Chuck Hutchinson is a Senior Technical Officer with WWF-Guyana who works supporting Guyana's new protected area system and REDD+. 

 

The community of REDD+ practitioners and experts from around the world grows every day, and WWF's global Forest and Climate Programme is working to ensure that the capacity building and informational materials it produces are available to the most diverse audience possible. 

UNFCCC-COP20 REDD+ Outcomes and Next Steps

 

This policy brief developed by WWF's global Forest and Climate Programme reports back on specific action and decisions taken at COP20 as related to REDD+. 

 

Download...
A Bottom-Up Approach to Building REDD+ Safeguards with the Afro-Colombian Community in Colombia's Pacific Region

 

This REDD+ Inspiring Practice highlights the participatory development of social and environmental safeguards for REDD+ by Afro-Colombian communities in Colombia's Pacific region. 

  

Download...

Identifying areas of deforestation risk for REDD+ using a species modelling tool

 

This paper explores an approach to this work using a technique known as Maximum Entropy Modelling (Maxent) and provides an overview of how it was used in the Madre de Dios region of Peru. 

 

Download...


 

Estimating aboveground biomass carbon in the forest region of Madre de Dios, Peru

 

This Spanish-language publication highlights participatory work between WWF-Peru, the WWF Forest and Climate Programme, the University of Leeds and the Bureau of Environmental Services and REDD+  of Madre de Dios.

 

Download...

WWF Guide to Building REDD+ Strategies 

 

This guide, now available in Spanish, provides REDD+ practitioners with the information needed to develop national and subnational REDD+ strategies.


 

Download...

© Courtesy: BirdLife International (2015)
Congo Bay-Owl, African Bay-Owl, Itombwe Owl

 

Phodilus prigoginei was first recorded in 1951 in the Itombwe Mountains of Democratic Republic of Congo. These elusive owls are unique in that they appear to require both grassland and forest area to live. Such specific habitat requirements diminish the viable habitat range. The already small range is threatened by forest clearance for smallholder agriculture.  


 

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WWF's international 
Forest and Climate Programme is working to ensure that:
Conservation of tropical forests as carbon stores is secured by green economic development that benefits people, the climate and biodiversity in transformational ways.

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5-7 February 2015
New Delhi, India
15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 

8-13 February 2015
Geneva, Switzerland
Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action 
 

3-7 March 2015
New York, USA 
Third Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing

 

16-18 March 2015
Montpellier, France
The Third Global Science Conference on Climate- Smart Agriculture 

21 March 2015
Worldwide
International Day of Forests

22-23 April 2015
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
World Green Economy Summit 2015 

4-15 May 2015
New York, USA
Eleventh Session of the UN Forum on Forests 

VIEWPOINTS


 

On the submission of reference levels and other REDD+ progress at COP20:

"These submissions will contribute to building confidences in generating financial flows for REDD+ action. We will begin to see how result-based payments will be valuable instruments in generating action on the ground. So all in all, today signals that REDD+ under the UN convention actually works, and that we're moving from words on paper to action on the ground."

 

-- Richard Kinley, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC


On scaling up landscapes approaches:

"For too long we have been stuck in sectorial priority settings. Now we have the chance to change that - across forestry, agriculture, smallholders, the corporate sector and the finance sector."

-- Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

 

On the need for integrated landscape approaches to sustainable development:

"We need every development institution, bilateral and multi-lateral, to join us if we are going to be able to direct long-term financing into the things that we value most. And those are the things that we find in an integrated landscape."

 

-- Rachel Kyte, the World Bank Group's Vice President


 

On deforestation:

"Deforestation is not one of the great challenges in the fight against climate change, it is the most important and most immediate and most urgent challenge." 

 

-- Paul Polman, Unilever's CEO

 

 

On the focus on forests at the UN climate meeting:

"If these governments show the political will to live up to those forest commitments, and if developed countries, the private sector and financial institutions move quickly to meet the challenge with adequate and predictable finance, we could be well on our way to meeting the goal of halting deforestation by 2030."


 

-- Peter Graham, Leader of the WWF Forest and Climate Programme



Peter Graham
FCP Lead


Breen Byrnes
FCP Communications

Highlight photo: © UNClimateChange, Flickr. Peter Graham photo: © Courtesy IISD/Earth Negotiations. All other photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons license.