A round up of the week’s news on REDD, in chronological order with short extracts (click on the title for the full article). REDD-Monitor’s news page is updated regularly. For past REDD in the news posts, click here.
Going once, going twice….. The great green land grab
By Terry Sunderland, CIFOR POLEX, September 2012 | In a summary paper in a recent special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies, James Fairhead and colleagues catalogue the increasing prevalence of “green grabbing” and how the environmental sector is influencing how nature is both perceived and managed. They provide an insightful analysis of just how far the environmental sector has gone in embracing the market economy, be it for carbon, biodiversity or ecosystem services. Fairhead and colleagues argue that the commoditization of nature has reflected a global trend towards neoliberalism where the market defines and arguably dictates what we should value and what we should not. To that end, payments for environmental services schemes (PES), Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) and other finance-driven initiatives have become mainstreamed into the conservation agenda.
weadapt.org, September 2012 | Integrating adaptation measures for people and ecosystems in REDD+ projects can render them more sustainable, ensure the permanence of carbon and increase their overall local legitimacy. However, there has been little experience and evidence to confirm this. Bottom-up, stakeholder-driven evaluation methods can provide preliminary indications of the potential impacts that can be generated by integrating adaptation interventions in REDD+ projects and facilitate the synergistic planning of adaptation and mitigation strategies. Using the Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework and participatory planning approaches, this research project aims to explore the costs, benefits, and overall impact of integrating community-based adaptation strategies in REDD+ target areas. One of the pilot sites is the Community Forest (Hutan Desa) project in Setulang, Malinau, managed by the FORCLIME project of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
10 September 2012
What is REDD+? A guide for indigenous communities – New edition
By Christian Erni & Helen Tugendhat (Eds), Forest Peoples Programme, 10 September 2012 | The 3rd edition of ‘What is REDD+? A guide for indigenous communities’ is now available here. This book seeks to help indigenous communities and their organisations to provide their people with basic information on REDD+. It is intended as a guide in understanding climate change, REDD+ and how they relate to the recognition and exercise of the collective rights of indigenous peoples.
Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation: A Synthesis Report for REDD+ Policymakers
OneWorld South Asia, 10 September 2012 | This synthesis report investigates activities that lead to deforestation and forest degradation. It also explores the relevance of activities in REDD+(Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) policy development and implementation, key interventions to address driver activity, the role of drivers for national forest monitoring and for developing REDD+ forest reference (emission) levels. The report concludes with recommendations intended to support the on-going international climate negotiations, as well as country-level plans and interventions to affect drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the United Kingdom Departments for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and International Development (DFID) and The Government of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative.
Global carbon trading system has ‘essentially collapsed’
By Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 10 September 2012 | The world’s only global system of carbon trading, designed to give poor countries access to new green technologies, has “essentially collapsed”, jeopardising future flows of finance to the developing world. Billions of dollars have been raised in the past seven years through the United Nations’ system to set up greenhouse gas-cutting projects, such as windfarms and solar panels, in poor nations. But the failure of governments to provide firm guarantees to continue with the system beyond this year has raised serious concerns over whether it can survive. A panel convened by the UN reported on Monday at a meeting in Bangkok that the system, known as the clean development mechanism (CDM), was in dire need of rescue. The panel warned that allowing the CDM to collapse would make it harder in future to raise finance to help developing countries cut carbon.
Greenlite press release, 10 September 2012 | Greenlite Ventures Inc. (OTCQB: GLTV) (“Greenlite”) announced today that it has entered into a revised letter of intent for the acquisition of 66.67% of Advantag AG, a German-based company which is engaged in the business of marketing and trading carbon credits and is a member of a number of European carbon exchanges, including the Carbon Trade Exchange London / Melbourne (a leading exchange for sale of voluntary credits), the Green Market Exchange of the Bavarian Exchange in Munich, Climex in the Netherlands and the KBB Bratislava. The acquisition of control of Advantag will assist Greenlite in marketing of the carbon offsets generated by the United Nature projects and will allow Greenlite to achieve its longer term plan to join carbon exchanges and market other forms of carbon credits.
Climate change and forests — the big picture
Summit County Citizens Voice, 10 September 2012 | Overall, the analysis found that, although there are many recent advances in understanding the effects of severe forest die-off, many critical research gaps remain. These gaps are especially critical in light of increasing forest die-off with climate change. One urgent gap is how this summer’s US-wide severe drought might affect forests. William Anderegg is helping to tackle this question by spearheading a project involving dozens of research groups from around the country (see the Drought Open-Source Ecology project for details). “The varied nature of the consequences of forest mortality means that we need a multidisciplinary approach going forward, including ecologists, biogeochemists, hydrologists, economists, social scientists, and climate scientists,” William Anderegg said. “A better understanding of forest die-off in response to climate change can inform forest management, business decisions, and policy.”
Australian Ambassador for Climate Change visits Kalimantan REDD+ demonstration project
Australian Embassy, 10 September 2012 | The Australian Ambassador for Climate Change, Dr. Justin Lee was in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan today to view progress of the Australian Government-funded REDD+ demonstration project as part of his visit to Indonesia. Ambassador Lee visited the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership, a project that is focused on restoring forests and reducing fires from damaged peatland, responsible for a large proportion of Indonesia’s carbon emissions. “I’m pleased to see the progress on the ground. Seeing first-hand, I learned how complex the project is, but it is still one of the most advanced REDD+ activities in the world,” said Ambassador Lee. During his visit, Ambassador Lee met with local communities in Katunjung village who are involved in the program. “I am very pleased to have listened to their views on the project. We need their involvement to make this work.”
Are conservation projects succeeding in the Lower Mekong Basin?
By Maya Thatcher and Michelle Kovacevic, CIFOR Forest News Blog, 10 September 2012 | For thousands of years, the people living on the banks of the Mekong river have been paddling through its often treacherous waters in wooden cargo boats laden with all manner of freshly grown produce, ready for trade. But in the last few decades they have entered a struggle of a new kind. With rising foreign investment and a rapidly expanding population demanding more than small sellers can produce and transport, trucks carrying tonnes of commercially grown produce now trundle along newly built roads slicing through the riverine forested slopes. The powerful river flow has now been interrupted by dozens of hydroelectric dams; transforming it into the ‘battery of South-East Asia’. Seeking to stave off such challenges, aid and conservation projects have moved in droves to protect one of the world’s great waterways.
Australian Ambassador for Climate Change visits Kalimantan REDD+ demonstration project
Australian Embassy, 10 September 2012 | The Australian Ambassador for Climate Change, Dr. Justin Lee was in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan today to view progress of the Australian Government-funded REDD+ demonstration project as part of his visit to Indonesia. Ambassador Lee visited the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership, a project that is focused on restoring forests and reducing fires from damaged peatland, responsible for a large proportion of Indonesia’s carbon emissions. “I’m pleased to see the progress on the ground. Seeing first-hand, I learned how complex the project is, but it is still one of the most advanced REDD+ activities in the world,” said Ambassador Lee. During his visit, Ambassador Lee met with local communities in Katunjung village who are involved in the program. “I am very pleased to have listened to their views on the project. We need their involvement to make this work.”
[India] Carbon credit fraud: How big firms faked green to mint gold
By Gangadhar S Patil, DNA (Mumbai), 10 September 2012 | “CDM may have helped people think about air pollution but it has not resulted in any significant technology transfer or sustainable development. It has ended up as a capitalistic tool to take care of some of the immediate problems at minimal costs,” says Amar Mody, an independent consultant and carbon market specialist based in Mumbai who has represented various carbon funds and international brokerage firms in India for more than seven years. “Of the 60 CDM projects that I have evaluated, there appeared not to be one that actually reduced emissions,” admitted Soumitra Ghosh of North Eastern Society for Preservation of Nature and Wildlife.
11 September 2012
[Brazil] Açaí: could the wonder fruit also be wonderful for forests?
By Michelle Kovacevic, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 11 September 2012 | The increased cultivation of açaí — the purple fruit that dangles from palms in the Brazilian rainforest and is touted by many celebrities as the number one superfood for ‘age-defying beauty’ – may be one of the reasons for the country’s staggering increase in forest cover over the past two decades, scientists said at the World Conservation Congress last week. “It is actually replacing cattle pastures in certain areas of the Amazonian floodplain,” said Christine Padoch, Director of forests and livelihoods research at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). She was speaking at a workshop organised by CIFOR and Bioversity on managing wild systems and species for global food security.
Countdown: Brazil has three months to evict invaders
Survival International, 11 September 2012 | Brazil has just three months to evict illegal loggers from land belonging to Earth’s most threatened tribe before it will be in breach of a court order, but Survival International can reveal that logging is still rife inside the territory. The clock is now ticking for Brazil’s government, which has had years to tackle the problem. Last December 9th, a judge ruled that a deadline of one year was ‘sufficient time for non-Indians to be removed, and the constructions built on Awá land undone.’ However, just last week shocking evidence emerged showing that illegal loggers are now working as close as six kilometers from vulnerable Awá families. Survival is now monitoring the impending deadline, and has started a countdown clock live on its website, to remind Brazilian authorities how little time they have left.
Populations pressure Vietnam’s protected parks
By Maya Thatcher, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 11 September 2012 | Growing populations in the Lower Mekong region of Vietnam could undermine sustainable conservation efforts unless measures are taken to ensure development activities do not overrun local capacity. As the number of people living in protected areas increases, so too does agricultural intensification, infrastructure expansion, hunting and logging, along with associated threats, such as forest fires. “An expansion of the local population will put some pressure on the national parks, but what’s more important are the changes in lifestyle to more unsustainable practices,” said Luke Preece, PhD student at Charles Darwin University and co-author of Evidence-based Conservation: Lessons from the Lower Mekong launched at the IUCN World Conservation Congress yesterday.
12 September 2012
REDD+ Hot Gender Debate in the World Conservation Congress 2012
WOCAN, 12 September 2012 | Abidah Setyowati of WOCAN was one of the panelists in REDD+ Hot Gender Debate held on Sept 7th, 2012, during the World Conservation Congress in Jeju Island, the Republic of Korea. The event was opened by Minister of Gender and Development of Liberia and IUCN representative. Other panelists include representatives from Uganda, Malawi, UNREDD and indigenous women leader from Latin America. During the debates, the panelists discussed about implications that REDD+ could bring for women and men and how the initiative could bring implications to gender equality and women empowerment. Most of the panelists agreed that if women’s rights are fully recognized in the process, REDD+ could bring benefit not only for reducing carbon emissions but also protecting women’s rights over forest resources and ensuring gender equality. However, without proper gender safeguard, REDD+ could bring risks to women and other marginalized communities.
Ecosystem Marketplace, 12 September 2012 | Food security, forestry and climate change leading expert Peter Holmgren took the reins at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) this week amid growing awareness worldwide of the critical role forests play in sustainable development and global warming. Holmgren’s tenure comes at an important time for the organization ahead of its 20th anniversary next year as one of the world’s leading forestry research institutes, currently working in more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Holmgren joined CIFOR from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) where he was Director of the Climate, Energy and Tenure Division. He replaces Frances Seymour, who led CIFOR from 2006. “Forestry can make a huge contribution to sustainable development around the world and help reduce the speed of climate change…”
Cambodian journalist found murdered: police
Channel NewsAsia, 12 September 2012 | A Cambodian journalist who reported on rampant illegal logging in the country has been found murdered in the boot of his car, police said. Hang Serei Oudom, a reporter at local-language Vorakchun Khmer Daily, was discovered on Tuesday, said senior police officer Song Bunthanorm. The vehicle was abandoned in a cashew nut plantation in northern Ratanakiri province. “It is not a robbery case. It is a murder,” he said, adding the victim had suffered several blows to the head, probably by an axe. The 44-year-old had been missing since leaving his home on Sunday evening. “He wrote stories about forest crimes involving business people and powerful officials in the province,” said Vorakchun Khmer Daily editor-in-chief Rin Ratanak. “Most of his stories were about illegal logging of luxury wood,” he added. Rampant illegal logging contributed to a sharp drop in Cambodia’s forest cover, from 73 per cent in 1990 to 57 per cent in 2010…
[Guyana] CI, IDB sign deal for US$1.6M low-carbon project in Rupununi
Guyana Times, 12 September 2012 | The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Conser-vation International Guyana (CI) on Tuesday signed an agreement to start a US$1.6 million project, to establish and promote micro enterprise development in the Rupununi. IDB Country representative to Guyana Sophie Makonnen said it is the largest Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) financed project in Guyana to date. The project will test models for the implementation of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) by contributing to the economic development of the Rupununi region while preserving ecosystems. More importantly, she said, the joint partnership project will also support, strengthen, and create environmentally and socially sustainable, local-level, business-led initiatives in the Rupununi.
[Guyana] Jagdeo talks up LCDS, REDD+ model at Jeju forum
Guyana Times, 12 September 2012 | Former President Bharrat Jagdeo told the IUCN World Congress in Jeju, South Korea that his brainchild project, the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and the REDD+ model is one of the working examples to achieve conservation of nature and address global climate change while creating livelihood opportunities at the national and local levels… The session was moderated by journalist and IUCN Patron Sally Ranney and among the panelists were Republic of Congo Sustainable Development, Forestry Economy and Environment Minister Henri Djombo; former Republic of Korea Environment Minister Dr Maan-ee Lee; HOLCIM Sustainable Development Director Ruksana Mirza and Shell Oil Company President Marvin Odum… Jagdeo was also guest speaker at the Conservation International’s 10 year anniversary of the GCF. The GCF was the source of CI’s financial support for Guyana’s Conservation Trust Fund that was established with a contribution of U.S$3.5 million…
Guyana endorses US$506M construction deal in China
Kaieteur News, 12 September 2012 | The construction agreement of what would be Guyana’s costliest infrastructural project – the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project (AFHEP) – has been signed, government announced yesterday. Construction is expected to start in mid-2013. According to a statement issued by the Government Information Agency (GINA), the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) agreement for the construction of the Amaila Falls Hydro project and Transmission Line was yesterday executed in Xian, China, by Sithe Global, the developer, and China Railway First Group (CRFG), the construction company. There were no indications before yesterday that a government team had left for China for the signing. The contract, valued at US$506M, was signed by Bruce Wrobel, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sithe Global, and Dr. Sun Yonggang, Chairman of China Railway First Group (CRFG).
[Guyana] Amaila hydro-project construction agreement signed in China
Stabroek News, 12 September 2012 | The agreement for the construction of the Amaila Falls Hydro project and Transmission Line was signed yesterday in Xian, China by Sithe Global and China Railway First Group (CRFG) and Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh urged all partners to recommit their efforts to seeing the timely realisation of financial closure and implementation. The Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract, executed by Bruce Wrobel, CEO of Sithe Global and Sun Yonggang, Chairman of China Railway First Group, is valued US$506 million and will be the largest infrastructure contract ever executed in Guyana… [R-M: Subscription needed.]
13 September 2012
Kyoto carbon credit glut is far larger than expected, warn analysts
By Will Nichols, BusinessGreen, 13 September 2012 | The giant surplus of carbon credits currently swamping the global carbon market may never recede, removing any hope of reducing global emissions without a significant increase in national emission reduction targets, campaigners will warn today. Countries signed up to legally-binding emissions targets between 2008 to 2012 as part of the Kyoto Protocol were given a set number of tradable allowances called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) which each equate to one metric tonne of CO2 equivalent. But analysis published today by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon finds that by the end of the period there will be an oversupply of 13 billion tonnes of CO2 (13.1Gt) – an order of magnitude higher than the estimated demand of 11.5 million tonnes (Mt).
Climate Change: Carbon market needs efficient global rules
By Crispian Olver, Mail & Guardian, 13 September 2012 | When they were first conceived, carbon markets were considered to be highly theoretical. After all, the idea of buying someone else’s reduction of emissions is fraught with the challenge of proving that those are real emission reductions. But after eight years of development and negotiation, carbon markets took off and became the success story of the global climate-mitigation system. The primary mechanism in carbon markets has been the United Nations-sponsored clean development mechanism. It has resulted in about 4 500 projects in 75 developing countries with a collective investment of $215-billion. These projects have reduced one billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions that would otherwise have gone into the atmosphere. The only problem is that the bottom has dropped out of the market.
New CSO Observers Selected for UNREDD
Bank Information Center, 13 September 2012 | The Bank Information Center, on behalf of the UN-REDD Programme and the Independent Advisory Group on Forests, Rights and Climate Change, has the pleasure to announce the winners of the self-selection process for civil society observers to the UN-REDD Policy Board. Four new observers were selected, one to represent each of the regions where UN-REDD works, and one for the developed countries. We’d like to thank all of the civil society organizations who were nominated for the observer positions and all the groups who participated in the selection process.
[Canada] Province ignoring massive carbon emissions: report
By Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun, 13 September 2012 | British Columbia is not taking responsibility for vast amounts of its green-house gas emissions, says a paper to be released Thursday by the Sierra Club of B.C. “B.C.’s contribution to the global greenhouse gas problem continues to be far more significant than the official inventory suggests,” says the seven-page report, entitled Emissions Impossible?: British Columbia’s Uncounted Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The report concludes that emissions in B.C. are more than four times what the province reported in June. The environmental advocacy organization adds in its paper that emissions levels could more than double again if the province proceeds with its plans to extract and export massive amounts of liquefied natural gas and increase coal production. “We can fool ourselves by ignoring these emissions, but we can’t fool the atmosphere,” report co-author Jens Wieting said in an interview Wednesday.
[Malaysia] Prince William urged not to visit Borneo over deforestation row
By Damian Carrington, The Guardian, 13 September 2012 | Prince William has been urged to abandon an official visit to the Borneo rainforest by politicians and campaigners who accuse his Malaysian government host of having made millions from vast illegal deforestation on the island. The Duke of Cambridge and his wife are on a tour of south-east Asia as part of the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations and are due to arrive in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Friday and attend a reception. They will visit the forest, which shelters orangutans, clouded leopards, elephants, sun bears and rhinos. “The visit will allow their royal highnesses to deliver a powerful and positive message on rainforest conservation that has global reach and genuine impact,” said Simon Featherstone, the UK’s high commissioner in Malaysia. But opponents of Sabah’s chief minister, Musa Aman, fear the royal visit will deliver a propaganda coup before elections.
[USA] Forest project issued CO2 credits for California market
Reuters, 13 September 2012 | Project developer Finite Carbon announced Wednesday it has registered a project that has issued 200,000 offsets eligible for use in California’s cap-and-trade system, bolstering the currently short supply of credits available in the forthcoming market. The project, which is located on 19,118 acres in eastern Maine, is the first registered project to be located outside of California that uses project guidelines for improving forest management (IFM), a method of improving forest carbon stocks. Forest carbon protection is among four project types under the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) offset registry that California regulators have allowed to generate carbon credits that emitters can use to meet the state’s mandatory carbon limits. In addition to its first issuance of 200,000 credits, the project is expected to produce an additional 20,000 credits per year until 2020 to yield a total of 400,000 credits.
14 September 2012
The Ecosystem Marketplace’s Forest Carbon News
Ecosystem Marketplace, 14 September 2012 | In this issue, the name of the game is financing – a discussion in which Ecosystem Marketplace parent organization Forest Trends played an integral role at the recent International Conference on Investment in Forestry and Forest Carbon, which took place in Ghana focusing on public-private investments in forestry, forest carbon and renewable energy in Africa. Forest Trends’ CEO Michael Jenkins moderated the event alongside organizers including FMO and several African development investment banks, in conjunction with the Forestry Commission of Ghana. Jenkins reports that one of the major outcomes of the conference – attended by several ministers of state within and outside Ghana – was an accord (the “Accra Accord”) that includes a call for a well-designed fund to support forest carbon and sustainable land use development in Africa. A fund that, as he describes it, is “non-bureaucratic, nimble and not about readiness but about projects.”
[Canada] Cheakamus Community Forest to sell carbon credits
By Tanya Foubert, Whistler Question, 14 September 2012 | Whistler companies looking to purchase carbon credits to offset their corporate emissions will soon have a locally-grown option. The Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) is breaking new ground with its efforts to reduce its reliance on logging for revenue and instead sell verified emission reduction credits, or carbon credits. The provincial government has officially approved the project in principle and now those involved are working to finalize the details and go through the internationally recognized accreditation process. “We have an agreement with the B.C. Forest Service to make the calculations and determine how many carbon credits to sell and they have given us permission to sell them,” said Peter Ackhurst, managing director of the community forest and chair of the board of directors. “It has taken six months to talk with the province and get the agreement to proceed based on the methodology.”
[Costa Rica] How to make money by protecting forests
By Hannah J. Ryan, The Tico Times, 14 September 2012 | Thick forests cover the hillsides of César Vindas’ property. Down the hill a small area of land is cleared for trout ponds, plum orchards and dairy pastures. The remaining 105 hectares are filled with trees the Costa Rican government pays him to maintain. Many residents go the extra mile in Costa Rica to decrease their carbon footprint by recycling or shopping locally, but in the end, to live in today’s world, harmful greenhouse gases will be produced. Trying to make good on Costa Rica’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2021 is the National Fund for Financing Forestry (Fonafifo). Fonafifo is the country’s leading carbon offset provider, creating the means for the country to target carbon neutrality. The organization operates numerous projects to protect and expand the country’s forests, thus increasing carbon sequestration to prevent carbon dioxide from escaping into the atmosphere.
[Indonesia] East Kalimantan to trail new REDD+ safeguards system
By Budhy Kristany, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 14 September 2012 | The Indonesian government plans to conduct a trial of a new system that will provide information on how to implement social safeguards in REDD+ projects in East Kalimantan in Decemebr 2012. The SIS REDD+ system is part of Indonesia’s preparations to ensure that the forest protection compensation scheme follows international standards and is well accepted by the general public. “We’re conducting this trial to get a template [for the] Indonesian context,” said Nur Masripatin, Head of the Ministry of Forestry’s Center for Standardisation and Environment, at an event to update stakeholders on the system’s development. The system will help identify the right approaches to meet safeguard criteria set by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in 2010, including information transparency and the need to include indigenous and local communities in REDD+ planning, she added.
[Indonesia] Masks Distributed as Haze Shrouds Central Kalimantan
Jakarta Globe, 14 September 2012 | Authorities in East Kotawaringin are distributing 6,000 free masks to residents as haze caused by ground brush and forest fires has thickened in the area in recent days, an official said on Thursday. The haze could get thicker still in the coming days as more and more fire hot spots have been detected, while officials have said rains are not likely to come for another two months. “The targets of this mask distribution are primarily road users, motorcyclists, car drivers, cyclists or pedestrians,” said Johan Wahyudi, the head of the district disaster mitigation unit. He said it was hoped that the distribution of the masks would reduce the number of respiratory tract health complaints that have surged in the past two days.
15 September 2012
Carbon markets: Complete Disaster in the Making
The Economist, 15 September 2012 | What would you say about a market that has helped reduce carbon emissions by a billion tonnes in seven years, attracted $215 billion of green investments to developing countries (more than any private environmental fund) and cut the cost of climate-change mitigation by $3.6 billion? The answer, to judge by a United Nations panel looking into the workings of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is: you’d say it is a shambles… Joan MacNaughton, the vice-chair of the panel, says there is a strong case for having something that links the many regional and national carbon markets that are cropping up, including in Australia, New Zealand, China and, from next year, California. But for the CDM to provide that link, countries will have to reduce their greenhouse-gas emission targets drastically, thus providing a boost to demand. At the moment there is little sign of that happening.
[Indonesia] RI, Japan develop peatland mapping system
By Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta Post, 15 September 2012 | Indonesian and Japanese researchers have developed a peatland mapping system so scientists can monitor carbon flux and estimate the size of carbon reservoirs in peat forests, a Japanese scientist says. Mitsuru Osaki, a visiting plant physiologist from Hokkaido University, Japan, said on Thursday that the Integrated Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) System developed by the scientists could play a critical role in recovering and maintaining Indonesia’s peat forests. With the system, scientists can more accurately measure peatland density and thickness to better manage carbon, Osaki said. “By using cutting edge technologies and science, this system can help us to manage carbon in the tropical peatlands,” Osaki told attendees of a two-day international symposium titled “Wildfire and Carbon Management in Peat Forests in Indonesia” that ended on Friday.
16 September 2012
PHOTO credit: Image created using wordle.net.