| Recent events or conferences: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań |
CAMBODIA SIGNS AVOIDED DEFORESTATION CARBON AGREEMENTS FOR VOLUNTARY CARBON STANDARD PROJECT 2009-06-24
In a ceremony held last month in Samraong, Cambodia's Forestry Administration, in partnership with Community Forestry International, Pact and Terra Global Capital, signed agreements with 9 community forestry groups to develop and market carbon credits for a Reduced Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation (REDD) project in Oddar Meanchey province. Earlier in the same month the Forestry Administration and Terra Global Capital finalized their carbon agreement marking a critical step in the development of Cambodia's first avoided deforestation project for registration under the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS). These agreements mark the culmination of years of effort to secure legal forest tenure for communities while at the same time cementing an agreement between the Government and communities to collaborate in conserving forest carbon over the next several decades.
More Australia sets new climate target 2008-12-15
Australia has said it will start a carbon trading scheme by the middle of 2010, despite appeals from the business community for a delay.The plan will cover 75% of the country's emissions.It has also announced that it will cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 5% and 15% by 2020, from the 2000 levels.Australia has the highest per capita levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world, due to its heavy use of coal for generating electricity.
More UK promises £100m to help reduce tropical deforestation 2008-12-12
Britain is to channel £100m to tropical countries such as Brazil and Papua New Guinea to help protect vulnerable forests and tackle climate change, ministers will announce today. The investment could help tropical countries access billions of pounds of funding under a new UN scheme to extend carbon trading to forests.
The UN scheme, the so-called Redd initiative, will reward countries that slow deforestation with lucrative carbon credits. The credits would be bought by rich nations that need to meet targets on cuts in emissions. It is expected to form part of a global treaty on fighting climate change to be agreed next year in Copenhagen.
More UN poised to agree action to halt rainforest destruction 2008-12-12
Britain is brokering the world's first agreement on curbing the enormous contribution tropical deforestation makes to climate change, which is likely to be signed at the UN climate conference in Poznan, Poland, later today.It will take the form of a statement of intent by countries with large tracts of rainforest, such as Brazil, and concerned developed nations, mainly in Europe, for a joint approach to halting forest destruction.
More World Bank's forest and carbon fund fails forests and peoples 2008-12-11
The World Bank has been in a hurry to get its Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) up and running, meaning that the process to date has been "rushed" and "corners have been cut," according to a new report by scientists from the Forests and the European Union Resource Network (FERN) and the Forest Peoples Programme.
The briefing, published at the start of UN climate negotiations in the Polish city of Poznań on 1 December, analyses nine of the first 25 national concept notes approved by the FCPF for financing under the REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism. The study finds that the notes vary enormously as regards the quality of the content and reviews carried out by the Bank.
More Africa calls for "full-range" of bio-carbon as climate solution 2008-12-10
A coalition of 26 African countries is calling for the inclusion of carbon credits generated through afforestation, reforestation, agroforestry, reduced soil tillage, and sustainable agricultural practices in future climate agreements.
The African Climate Solution — a partnership launched at the current climate talks in Poznan, Poland — seeks payments from industrialized nations for efforts by developing countries to sequester carbon through land use practices. The initiative goes beyond the proposed reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) mechanism that is currently under debate at the Poznan conference.
ndigenous people win voice in climate negotiations 2008-12-10
Negotiators at U.N. climate conference have struck a deal to give forest-dependent people a voice in determining the role forest conservation will play future agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reports the Associated Press (AP). The agreement clears a key obstacle that had been blocking progress on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), a mechanism that would compensate tropical countries for protecting their forest cover.
More No Rights, No REDD 2008-12-09
Today, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand opposed the inclusion of recognition of rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in a decision on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) drafted by government delegates at the UN Climate Conference.
They want to include REDD (I’ll explain it in a second for those of you not in UN acronym land) in the future climate agreement, but they oppose protecting the rights of the indigenous and forest peoples that will be DIRECTLY affected by REDD measures. This is unjust and unacceptable. As a US citizen I am disgusted and outraged by my country’s position on REDD. They do not speak for me or millions of other US citizens who believe in human rights and decency.
More EU policy firms on forests and biofuels 2008-12-08
The EU has firmed up its policies on key areas of climate policy - funding the preservation of tropical rainforests and boosting the production of biofuels.
EU decisions on a number of climate and energy-related policies come to a head in these first two weeks of December as it seeks to lead the rest of the world toward a new international climate agreement. More than 190 nations are meeting in Poznan, Poland to advance negotiations towards a successor to the Kyoto Protocol agreement from 2013 onwards - and progress is slow.
Late last week, EU ministers approved a proposal by the European Commission in Brussels to recognise carbon offset credits generated by paying poor countries to reduce deforestation. The credits could be counted towards future binding targets on EU nations to cut greenhouse emissions, goals that are currently being negotiated as part of the new global treaty.
Preserving tropical forests also cuts emissions 2008-12-08
Can the world's remaining tropical forests in Indonesia and elsewhere be protected and brought into the battle against climate change? Working out ways of halting or slowing the cutting of forests for valuable timber and agriculture is now being discussed at U.N. climate change negotiations taking place in Poznan, Poland, through Friday.
Trees soak up and store carbon dioxide when they grow and release it when they rot or are burned. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas blamed by many scientists for warming the planet. Deforestation contributes about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, and most of it occurs in forest-rich developing nations in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. So any international deal to preserve forests is of critical interest both to these regions and the wider world.
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