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.
Key issues in REDD+ verification
By M. Dutschke, CIFOR, June 2013 | Amid the discontent of developing countries about the lack of reliable finance for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), the issue of verification of results-based activities reached an impasse in the 2012 Doha negotiation round of the UN Climate Convention, leading to the suspension of the formulation of a REDD+ Methodological Guidance. The disillusion about REDD+ finance mainly stems from the weakness of demand on carbon markets. Presently, development assistance is the main funding source, which brings up the old debate around aid conditionality, because obviously ‘results-based’ implies conditionality for funding. This paper assesses the issues of REDD+ financing and verification in the context of the negotiation positions of the key countries in the present debate. In its preparation, a number of interviews with REDD+ negotiators have been undertaken, in order to better understand the different positions.
New Leaf Africa Chooses ecoPartners to Aid in the Republic of Guinea’s Forest Conservation
New Leaf Africa press release, June 2013 | New Leaf Africa (NLA), a team of leaders in conservation, technology, population health and renewable energy, has engaged ecoPartners to consult on its REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) campaign in the Republic of Guinea. New Leaf Africa will use value from REDD credits to deliver health, education and agricultural intensification projects to local communities. Deforestation in the Republic of Guinea is occurring alarmingly quickly. According to recent data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the country is losing its forest at the rate of 36,000 ha/year, an area equivalent to 1/3 the size of Hong Kong. The Republic of Guinea is rich in its biodiversity, providing habitat to significant chimpanzee populations and many endemic bird species. Unfortunately only 25% of its forests remain. President Conde and the new democratically elected administration are committed to reversing this trend.
FCPF Explores REDD+ Governance in DRC
Forests Policy & Practice (IISD), June 2013 | The (FCPF) has released a journal article, titled ‘Implementing REDD+ in the Democratic Republic of Congo: An Analysis of the Emerging National REDD+ Governance Structure,’ which highlights the unique governance structure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), one that consists of both a national REDD+ fund as well as individual REDD+ projects. Challenges in the DRC, according to the article, emerge from the fragile nature of national governance and difficulties in linking national and local levels of government. To address these challenges, the article reveals a strong national REDD+ fund that is intended to support institutional and policy reform to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation.
10 June 2013
Waiting on new climate deal ‘will set world on a path to 5C warming’
By Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 10 June 2013 | The world cannot afford to wait for a new global climate change agreement to come into force in 2020, because doing so will mean an end to hopes of limiting global warming to moderate levels, one of the world’s foremost authorities on energy has warned. Carbon dioxide emissions from energy rose by 1.4% in 2012 to a record high of more than 31bn tonnes, according to a report from the International Energy Agency on Monday, driven in part by a striking 6% rise in emissions from Japan following its phase-out of nuclear power and continuing growth in emissions from China. Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA, and one of the world’s most respected energy experts, told the Guardian that greenhouse gas emissions were continuing to rise so fast that pinning hopes on a replacement for the Kyoto protocol would set the world on a path to 5C of warming, which would be catastrophic.
Q+A: Can the REDD+ climate change program produce measurable results in the next three years?
By Julie Mollins, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 10 June 2013 | Policymakers must see REDD+ achieving measurable results in the next three years to ensure the U.N.-backed framework for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation survives, according to a leading forestry scientist. Although still in early stages, the program has been driving global climate change policy debates and national forest policy revisions since 2008. Yet it faces funding threats from global economic uncertainty caused by the financial crisis. “There is a limit to how long we can sell a good idea,” said Arild Angelsen, a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) and editor of Analysing REDD+: Challenges and Choices. “Over the next two-to-three years we need to see reliable evidence of REDD+ actually producing measurable results.”
CIFOR Explores REDD+ Verification Debate
Forests Policy & Practice (IISD), 10 June 2013 | The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) commissioned a study, titled ‘Key Issues in REDD+ Verification,’ which explores the different options for REDD+ verification and the impact of the impasse in international negotiations on REDD+ financing and implementation. The study establishes a number of areas of agreement with regard to independent verification including the need to follow guidelines developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the importance of transparent and consistent data, and the advantages of building on existing monitoring systems, which should be improved over time.
ODI Makes the Case for REDD+ in a Green Economy
Forests Policy & Practice (IISD), 10 June 2013 | The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) released a report, titled ‘Integrating REDD+ into a green economy transition,’ which was produced with support from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD). The study highlights the complimentary objectives of REDD+ and the transition to a green economy with regards to maintaining natural capital while supporting developments. It also stresses the possible efficiencies that could be captured from linking implementation of REDD+ with a shift to a green economy, especially with regards to synergies in policy shifts.
EU Should Move Beyond Carbon Market to Shut Coal, IEA Says
By Mathew Carr & Sally Bakewell, Bloomberg, 10 June 2013 | The European Union needs to think of other ways to prevent new coal-fired power stations from being built because its carbon market won’t achieve that this decade, according to the International Energy Agency. Nations should consider measures including bans of new and inefficient plants known as “sub-critical,” unless they are fitted with carbon capture and storage technology, Maria Van der Hoeven, the executive director of the Paris-based agency that advises 28 developed nations, said today in a London interview.
Dubai carbon credit firm accused of being a Ponzi scheme
By Simon Danaher, International Adviser, 10 June 2013 | Advanced Global Trading, a Dubai-based company selling voluntary carbon credits to retail investors, has been accused of being either a boiler room scam or Ponzi scheme by a website which writes about emissions and deforestation. The article is written by Chris Lang founder of the website Redd-Monitor.org… In the article, published last month on Redd-Monitor.org, Lang suggests that AGT is artificially inflating the price of the carbon credits it trades by selling them to new customers, much like a traditional Ponzi scheme. The company makes its money by taking a commission on each transaction so will continue to make money as long as new investors continue to buy carbon credits from existing investors.
Indonesia will burn illegal logs to support its verification system
cleanbiz.asia, 10 June 2013 | The Indonesian Government has tabled legislation to eliminate the practice of auctioning off logs that have been seized from illegal logging operations in order to reinforce the integrity of its new certification system. Currently shipments of illegal logs seized by Indonesian authorities are usually sold through local timber brokers who can offer them to the industries in need of the logs. However, this has led to accusations that brokers are using this arrangement to launder more illegal logs. With the implementation of SVLK (Indonesia’s new timber legality verification and certification system) at the beginning of this year, the availability of illegal logs that have been seized has caused confusion. “In the future there will be no more auctions of seized illegal logs because they have been used for laundering logs with unclear origins,” Dwi Sudharto, director of forest product marketing and processing supervision at Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry…
ICIMOD, 10 June 2013 | The first meeting of the members of four working groups, identified during a national workshop earlier in the year to ensure the maximum number of stakeholders is involved in developing the REDD Readiness Roadmap, was held in Islamabad on 3 May. The meeting was jointly organized by the Ministry of Climate Change, ICIMOD, and WWF-Pakistan under the REDD+ Preparedness Phase Project. Inspector General of Forests Syed Mahmood Nasir formally inaugurated the meeting by highlighting various aspects and challenges of the REDD Readiness Roadmap process. More than 30 members of the working groups from various government departments, civil society organizations, academia, and UN agencies participated in the meeting and agreed on the Terms of Reference that were drafted during the national workshop. The different working groups also nominated their respective Chairs and Secretaries to steer the process of collecting information for the Roadmap document.
11 June 2013
UN climate talks collapse amid acrimony in Bonn
By John Parnell, RTCC Climate Change News, 11 June 2013 | A vital track of the UN climate talks in Bonn has collapsed after nations failed to resolve a dispute over the meeting’s agenda. Eight days into the two week meeting, a proposed addition by Russia to the agenda of the session dealing with the UN’s decision-making process was not accepted. A compromise deal presented to governments in the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) meeting this morning was rejected by Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It means sensitive discussions on climate compensation, adaptation and finance will now not be discussed within the process until the main summit in Warsaw this coming November.
Global fund would provide effective means to fuel REDD+ climate program: experts
By Julie Mollins, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 11 June 2013 | Efforts to stop an increase in global temperatures can succeed if policymakers put in place a broad governance structure to oversee REDD+ from which money would trickle down through state-level funding to local projects, according to a new research paper. How best to govern REDD+ — a U.N.-backed framework for reducing emissions caused by deforestation and degradation — is politically disputed, particularly over what role financial markets and governments should play in the scheme. “National Governance Structures for REDD+”, co-authored by Norwegian University of Life Sciences professors Arild Vatn and Paul Vedeld, examines four potential national REDD+ architectures that could be funded directly by a compliance market or by a global fund supported by both public and private sources.
Althelia Raises $80 Million For REDD And Ecosystem Services
By Steve Zwick, Ecosystem Marketplace, 11 June 2013 | If Christian del Valle is right, the Althelia Climate Fund will make money over the next eight years for the Church of Sweden, the European Investment Bank, the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund), and the Dutch Development Bank (FMO, Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden). It will do this by investing in certified commodities, sustainable agricultural produce, carbon credits, and other ecosystem-service projects across Latin America, Africa, and Asia – spawning in the process imitators who will funnel billions into sustainable land-use projects around the world. “We will provide funding to projects that are early-stage in nature or pilots in need of scaling up,” says del Valle, who is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Althelia Ecosphere, the Fund’s management Company. “These investments are often overlooked or perceived as being too complex (or risky) for conventional sources of capital."
Explainer: how much carbon can the world’s forests absorb?
By Peter Reich, The Conversation, 11 June 2013 | If deforestation continues unabated, and droughts and forest fires become more common, as is expected, then tropical forests could become a large net source of carbon to the atmosphere, heating up the pace of climate change. Disturbances to temperate and boreal forests from climate change-induced droughts, wildfires and windstorms could make the situation even worse. Conversely, if deforestation was to slow in comparison to continued growth of recovering and intact forests, tropical forests could serve as a large net sink of carbon in the future and make the United Nation’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programme a meaningful contributor to offsetting emissions.
[Brazil] More forests, more power: Analyzing the viability of Belo Monte dam
By Amy Duchelle, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 11 June 2013 | Much of the controversy over hydropower plants in tropical nations is focused on what dam construction and flooding will do to people and the environment. But what about what forests do for dams? A team of US and Brazilian scientists presents a unique perspective on the relationship between forests and hydropower in an article recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Stickler et al.’s study focuses on the polemic Belo Monte hydropower complex, situated in the Xingu River basin of the Brazilian Amazon. Upon its projected completion in 2015, Belo Monte will be the third largest hydropower dam in the world. Its construction has been the subject of local, national and international protests, especially because of the harm predicted for aquatic ecosystems and local people (including high-profile indigenous groups), along with its questionable economic viability.
[Fiji] Storng lobby for REDD-plus at UN climate change meet
Ministry of Information Fiji, 11 June 2013 | The Fijian government is lobbying for the establishment of a mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that will ensure the full implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation activities (REDD-Plus). Conservator of Forests Mr Samuela Lagataki, who is currently attending the UNFCCC meeting in Bonn, Germany, said they want the new proposed mechanism included in the new Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform (ADP). “The (mechanism) should also be supported by adequate additional and predictable funding from various sources such as public, private, bilateral, multilateral and market based mechanisms. REDD-Plus goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
Guatemalan protected areas sideline the protectors
By Barbara Fraser, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 11 June 2013 | Guatemala’s protected areas safeguard some of last remaining forests, but they are also threatening the livelihoods of the very people who have maintained these reservoirs of rich biological diversity for generations, a new study says. “The study emphasizes the importance of new access and exclusion rules from forest resources which are are redefining ecological systems in the Guatemalan highlands,” said Anne Larson, principal scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and coordinator of a special issue on forest tenure reforms published in Conservation and Society. Indigenous communities’ traditional forest-management practices have kept deforestation in the country’s western highlands region to about 1 percent per year, which is below the national average of 1.46 percent, according to a study by Silvel Elías, Universidad de San Carlos in Guatemala.
[Guyana] Govt. refuses to disclose IDB concerns on US$840M Amaila Falls Project
Kaieteur News, 11 June 2013 | Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, yesterday refused to disclose any concerns that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) may hold, regarding the construction of the US$840M Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project. The Finance Minister was at the time addressing members of the media at the party’s weekly press engagement at Freedom House. He said that the due diligence being conducted by the IDB is at an advanced stage. IDB is investing US$175M. “I wouldn’t want to pre-empt the conclusion of the work by saying what the concerns are,” according to Dr Singh, but he did disclose that all of the partners have been collaborating. He said that each of the institutions involved would have its review processes that are ongoing; each of the hurdles met thus far have been overcome. “The major international partners are at an advanced stage of due diligence … once complete we should see the project approved.”
12 June 2013
Carbon Offset Projects Look for Exit As UN Prices Crash 98%
By Alessandro Vitelli, Bloomberg, 12 June 2013 | A 98-percent drop in the value of official UN-backed carbon credits is pushing sellers of emission offsets into the voluntary market, where prices are as much as 30 times higher. The trend is a signal that many companies not required by law to cut their pollution are doing so anyway to bolster their corporate sustainability credentials… "In the voluntary market, the project itself and the story behind it are almost more important than the price,” said Nathan Wimble, commercial director at the CarbonNeutral Company, a London-based voluntary offset seller. “People want to see additional benefits from an offset project, such as social, economic, sustainability and biodiversity.” You don’t see those benefits with a typical UN offset, he said.
Q&A: ‘Traditional forest knowledge is not folklore, but a resource for change’
By Barbara Fraser, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 12 June 2013 | Researchers and policymakers have a lot to learn in designing and implementing climate change adaptation strategies from smallholder farmers in the Amazon, says Miguel Pinedo-Vásquez, scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and Director of International Programs at the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability at Columbia University. “Traditional forest knowledge and practices are products of many years of local responses to hazards and opportunities produced by a variety of social, environment and economic changes, ” said Pinedo-Vásquez, who co-authored a chapter on Amazonia in Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge with Christine Padoch, Director of Livelihoods research at CIFOR and professor Susanna Hecht from UCLA.
ITTO Announces Additional Funding for Forest Monitoring in the Amazon
Climate Change Policy & Practice (IISA), 12 June 2013 | The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) announced the continuation of the project on ‘Monitoring deforestation, logging and land use change in the Pan Amazonian Forest – PANAMAZON II,’ which supports monitoring of forest cover in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. According to ITTO, additional project funding is provided by the Governments of the Netherlands and Germany and by the participating countries. In addition, technical support is received from Brazilian institutions and the Ministries of Environment of the participating countries. Over a five year period, the new Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) project on ‘Monitoring of forest cover in the Amazon Region’ will build on the work carried out by ITTO to improve access to real time and accurate information on deforestation, logging and land use change.
From words to impacts: The research behind Cameroon’s sustainable palm oil policy
By Valerie Gwinner, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 12 June 2013 | They had hoped to incite debate. Instead, the authors of a report on oil palm development in Cameroon discovered that they had spurred a national strategy. “The message we wanted to pass to policymakers and NGOs was that oil palm development can strongly boost economic development and reduce rural poverty—but not just anywhere or anyhow,” said Patrice Levang of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Institute of Research for Development (IRD). That message was heard, Levang learned while at CIFOR’s Sustainable Forest Management in Central Africa conference. “During the conference, it was clear that members of the Ministry of Agriculture had not only heard and adopted the message, but were well on track to putting it into action with the development of a plan for a sustainable, national oil palm development strategy,” he said.
Timber markets challenge Latin American forest communities
By Barbara Fraser, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 12 June 2013 | For indigenous communities and other forest dwellers in Latin America, reaping the benefits of timber depends not only on tenure rights, but also on how well they deal with markets, argues a new study. The study undertaken in four communities – each with different characteristics, but representative of situations throughout the region – said everything from their proximity to markets and bargaining power to their level of dependency on wood for their livelihoods is critical. That means policy makers must consider not just the communities, but all the players – including chainsaw operators, sawmills and intermediary buyers – when designing systems to strengthen forest management at the local level.
Norwegian Parliament calls for stronger implementation of no-deforestation policy for investments
By Rhett Butler, mongabay.com, 12 June 2013 | The Norwegian Parliament has called for the country’s pension fund to strengthen its commitment to avoid investing in companies linked to rainforest destruction. Norway’s $700 billion sovereign wealth fund last year stepped up its no-deforestation policy, asking portfolio companies to disclose their impacts on tropical forests as part of the fund’s risk management strategy related to climate change. It divested from 23 palm oil companies found to be non-compliant with its policy. Now the Norwegian Parliament is calling for stricter criteria, including a provision that tree plantations should not count as regrowth of natural forest. "Replanting in the form of tree plantations [does] not outweigh the harms associated with the destruction of rainforests and therefore should not be equated with or replace reduced deforestation," stated a white paper issued last week by Parliament.
13 June 2013
Land rights: Both prerequisite and incentive for smallholder-based REDD+
By Kate Evans, CIFOR Forests News Blog, 13 June 2013 | Incipient initiatives designed to reduce carbon emissions through avoided deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) are also helping to secure forest land tenure in Brazil, a new study has found. REDD+ is a UN-backed scheme that aims to mitigate global climate change through incentivising developing countries to keep their tropical forests standing – and is also seen by many as a way to promote conservation and bolster rural livelihoods in those forests. Amy Duchelle and colleagues from the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) have examined four sub-national REDD+ initiatives in three very different states in the Brazilian Amazon, interviewing project proponents and community members about land tenure and local livelihoods.
EIB supports Althelia Climate Fund to save tropical forests
Invest in EU, 13 June 2013 | The European Investment Bank has agreed to contribute up to EUR 25m for the Althelia Climate Fund launched this week. The Althelia Climate Fund is a public-private partnership that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a focus on sustainable land use, ecosystem services and forest carbon. Althelia Ecosphere is an innovative fund which will develop multiple revenue streams from forest protection and sustainable land use. It aims to demonstrate that financial performance can be fully aligned with sound environmental stewardship and social development. The fund will generate returns in two ways. Firstly, by investing in forest carbon and other socially and environmentally-orientated tradable carbon assets the fund can generate an income stream from standing forests. Secondly the fund will increase the volume and quality of a range of sustainably produced, certified agricultural commodities.
Govts inch towards framework for global CO2 market
By Michael Szabo and Andrew Allan, Reuters, 13 June 2013 | Governments may this year launch a global framework to tie together national and regional greenhouse gas reduction efforts, a move that U.N. climate negotiators meeting in Germany this week said could lay the groundwork for a global carbon market… The plan could include launching a pilot scheme to examine developing common standards that could, for example, join existing and future carbon markets with mitigation efforts or initiatives to slow deforestation rates in developing countries… Green groups were opposed to Poland’s idea and called for a review of existing carbon markets before launching new ones, noting the CDM, JI and EU carbon markets are suffering from record low prices due to weak national pledges. “It’s a recipe for disaster,” said Kate Dooley, a campaigner with Third World Network.
[Brazil] Guarani man killed in ambush by gunmen
Survival International, 13 June 2013 | A Guarani Indian man was killed yesterday in southern Brazil, reportedly by gunmen working for the cattle ranchers who have occupied his community’s land. According to the leader of Paraguassú community, Celso Rodrigues, 42, ‘was ambushed by two gunmen whilst he was walking near a stream. His father is very sad and angry, as am I… it is very sad to see our relatives die’. Last August, the Guarani of Paraguassú reoccupied part of their ancestral land, known as Arroio Korá. They have since suffered numerous episodes of violence and intimidation. A Guarani man at Arroio Korá told Survival, ‘Our families were forced off this land. We’ve decided to return; our food is our land. I have had to run from bullets several times. It really hurts that the ranchers continue to threaten us, but we have decided to stay here. The rancher would have to kill us all to make us leave’.
UN-REDD seeks to calm row with Panama indigenous body
By Megan Rowling, 13 June 2013 | Two investigators – an anthropologist and a lawyer – carried out a fact-finding mission in Panama for two weeks starting in late May and will return for a second visit in July. They said in a preliminary report, seen by Thomson Reuters Foundation, that clear procedures had not been put in place to involve COONAPIP in consultation, dialogue and decision making, and funds of only around $300,000 were offered to help the group, compared with the $1.78 million requested for its activities. "All this has resulted in a situation where the dialogue has failed both institutionally and personally, and apparently there is no confidence in the good faith of the parties involved," the report said.
Peru opens deforestation data to the public, shows drop in Amazon forest clearing
By Rhett Butler, mongabay.com, 13 June 2013 | The data shows that while more than 100,000 hectares have been cleared in the Peruvian Amazon on annual basis since 2005, the rate of clearing has slowed in recent years. Between 2009 and 2010, some 108,571 ha of forest were lost in the region. Between 2010 and 2011, that number fell to 103,380 ha or 0.16 percent of the Peruvian Amazon’s forest cover annually. Overall, more than 78 percent of the area is forested, down from 80 percent or about 63 million hectares in 2000. Peru’s deforestation monitoring system has been in development with several partners since late 2009. The system is based primarily on analysis of satellite data using CLASlite, a software tool that uses images from NASA’s Landsat and MODIS sensors to generate maps revealing changes in forest cover, including deforestation and degradation. The data was checked by field sampling and the use of flyovers.
14 June 2013
Forest Carbon Won’t Be Tradable Commodity, Climate Expert Says
By Stefan Nicola & Alessandro Vitelli, Bloomberg, 14 June 2013 | Emissions reductions created through forest protection never will become a tradable commodity, and private investors are beginning to realize that, a consultant for the Third World Network said. Forest carbon can’t be measured as accurately as CO2 discharges from industrial projects, Kate Dooley, who advises the environmental group on climate change issues, said today in Bonn. Under the United Nations’ Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program, or REDD, developing nations protect and manage their forests in exchange for funding from developed states to support their efforts. “If you think that REDD can be established as a carbon market, if you think that forest carbon can be measured to the level of accuracy to satisfy investors to invest in it as a carbon market, I think that there’s a lot of disappointment in that,” she said in an interview at the UN talks in the German city.
Positive steps at Bonn climate meeting open door for REDD+ in Warsaw
WWF, 14 June 2013 | The global community was one step closer today towards realizing a formal mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) at the close of UN climate talks in Bonn. REDD+ negotiators, representing Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), worked overtime over the two-week meeting to address key areas of REDD+. Draft text recommend for adoption at the 19th Conference of the Parties (COP19) in Warsaw in November was agreed to on such key issues as: modalities for national forest monitoring systems, addressing drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, and the timing and frequency of presentations on information as to how safeguards are implemented. “The decision to recommend that these draft REDD+ decisions be adopted at COP 19 in Warsaw is exciting as it opens the door for a UNFCCC decision on REDD+ in 2013,” said Bruce Cabarle, Leader of WWF’s international Forest and Climate Initiative.
Wildlife Works Voted Best Project Developer in Forestry
Wildlife Work press release, 14 June 2013 | Wildlife Works Carbon llc, was voted best project developer in the forestry category of Environmental Finance and Carbon Finance Magazine’s Voluntary Carbon Market Rankings 2013. The first prize honor was decided through a vote of more than 700 members of the voluntary carbon trade. The industry rankings recognized the pioneering achievements of Wildlife Works’ REDD+ projects in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where Wildlife Works currently manages the protection of 1.2M acres of threatened forest that generates 5M tonnes of REDD+ carbon credits on behalf of landowners and 150K people from the local communities.
BluForest Inc. press release, 14 June 2013 | The Paiter Surui,Indigenous Amazonian People were the first indigenous people in theworld to generate REDD credits. According to an article on Stockwatch.com, four years ago, theindigenous people "voted to shift the basis of their economiclivelihoods away from logging and other activities that requirebulldozing the forest towards activities that conserve it." The Paiter Surui utilized REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestationand Degradation, plus sustainable forest management) to earn creditfor the carbon captured in trees. "Their success can now bereplicated by other indigenous people, who have long been among themost effective stewards of the land and play a key role on the frontlines of combatting climate change."
[China] Future points to carbon trading
China Daily, 14 June 2013 | As the world’s largest energy consumer, China is stepping up its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions by rolling out a series of experimental pilot programs, reports Lan Lan. Chinese companies that have long faced relatively low environmental costs will have to figure out efficient ways to cut carbon dioxide emissions as a market mechanism is right around the corner. The country’s first pilot carbon-trading program for cutting greenhouse gas emissions will make its formal debut on Tuesday in Shenzhen, the southern city in Guangdong province that has long been a leader in China’s reforms. The Shenzhen pilot program is expected to hasten the launch of pilots in other regions. The central government has designated four other cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and two provinces to roll out pilot carbon-trading programs by 2014.
[Sri Lanka] Govt aims at forests to address climate change
Daily News: News, 14 June 2013 | Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha inaugurated a programme to put forests at the heart of Sri Lanka’s strategy to tackle climate change. The programme will help Sri Lanka to prepare for an international mechanism to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). REDD+ will be part of a future international comprehensive agreement to tackle global warming, which is being negotiated through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). REDD+ will be implemented on a voluntary basis; no country will be obliged to take on a commitment if they see no benefit in doing so. Under a REDD+ mechanism, industrialized countries are expected to provide positive incentives for Sri Lanka and other developing countries in exchange for information which proves that they have improved forest and land use management practices.
15 June 2013
16 June 2013
PHOTO credit: Image created using wordle.net.