FORESTS REPORT PANAMA – TUESDAY 4 OCTOBER

from the Ecosystems Climate Alliance

 REDD+ report for Tuesday 4 October

REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries)

Today’s Meeting: 10:00 – 11:30 - Informal Group on policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to REDD+

Ø  (in the Daily Programme: “agenda item 3.2.3” in the AWG-LCA, page 2)

Background: Second meeting this week on REDD+ issues evolving from The Cancun Agreements. Yesterday’s meeting was open to observers but today’s meeting was closed.

Outlook: Yesterday’s short meeting focused largely on sources of finance. A number of countries stated their preference for a decision in Durban to include a “basket” of options, a mixture of public and private sector funding.

Quote from Peg Putt, Global Witness: “Many countries voiced support for finding the right words to allow for the widest variety of voluntary approaches and mechanisms to fund REDD+ programs and projects. To achieve a critical mass of funding, many country delegates talked about keeping options open for the private sector as well as for governments to put money into the REDD pot, and that ‘private sector’ can mean more than just markets and offsets, for instance, contributions to private funds and investments.”

LULUCF report for Tuesday 4 October

Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) in attempts to secure a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol

Today’s Meeting 15:00 – 16:30: Spin-off group on Chapter II. Closed to observers.

Background: Further discussion on rules and accounting for land-use, land-use change and forestry in attempts to secure a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol.

Outlook: Discussion has focused on excluding force majeure or natural disturbance events such as wildfires or disease outbreaks from accounting, because such events are not caused by humans (even if they are climate-change related).

Quote from Peg Putt, Global Witness: “Talks have been contentious because Australia wants to exclude all natural events, whether large or small, from their emissions accounts. Although there is reason to do something about massive events, Australia wants to go further, and the fear is that this will become yet another scam to avoid accounting for emissions.”

The Ecosystems Climate Alliance is comprised of ten NGOs and additional affiliate organizations and individuals committed to keeping natural terrestrial ecosystems intact and their carbon out of the atmosphere. We are available for interviews and background, CONTACT: Don Lehr on +507 6251 0975, dblehr@cs.com, or find us at the tables in the downstairs cafeteria at Atlapa.