From
left: Mr. Gary Dunning, Executive Director, The Forest Dialogue (Chair); Mr.
Stewart Maginnins, Head of Forest Programme of the IUCN; Dr. Jeanette Gurung,
Executive Director, Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural
Resource Management; Mr. Chaovalit Ekabut, President, SCG Paper; Mr. George
Asher, CEO, Lake Taupo Forrest Trust and Executive Officer for Central North
Island Iwi Collective Forum and Mr. James Griffits, Managing Director, WBCSD.
CONSERVATION OF
WORLD'S FORESTS: FORESTS DIALOGUE, INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF
NATURE & WORLD BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews
Network
/ 18
October 2009 - At a
meeting earlier this month in Bangkok The
Forests Dialogue called upon the industrialized nations to make
sufficient financial commitments for the management and conservation of
sustainable forests in tropical nations and be promote equitable financial
benefits to be shared with the communities that were dependent upon the
forests.
At the
meeting the Forests Dialogue (TFD) launched its publication "Investing
in REDD-plus" which presents recommendations for corporations,
scientists, environmental activists, indigenous peoples and forest
communities.
Stewart
Maginnis, Head of the Forest Programme of the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said that although consensus in
this area is unusual these recommendations provide an important strategy to
finance forest CO2 emission efforts and implement REDD-plus strategies and
environmental and financial benefits for all involved.
It was
agreed that REDD-plus could be implemented in a way that CO2 is reduced and
that forest degradation could be reduced and greater carbon stocks could be
sustained by proper forest management according to specific situations in each
country.
Roberto
Smeraldi, Director of Amigos da Terra – Amazonia Brasileira said that REDD-plus
also suggested that related activities can be measured in relation to various
environmental, social and economic indicators.
It was
advocated that a portfolio of economic resources be used to finance different
stages of REDD-plus and that these measures could work together for overall
economic efficiency and optimal outcomes for the different parties.
Among
the participants were: Mr. Gary Dunning, Executive
Director, The Forest Dialogue (Chair); Mr. Stewart Maginnins, Head of Forest
Programme of the IUCN; Dr. Jeanette Gurung, Executive Director, Women
Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management; Mr.
Chaovalit Ekabut, President, SCG Paper; Mr. George Asher, CEO, Lake Taupo
Forrest Trust and Executive Officer for Central North Island Iwi Collective
Forum and Mr. James Griffits, Managing Director, WBCSD.
“Today’s
recommendations provide a timely roadmap for the financing of forest-related
CO2 emission strategies and show that REDD-plus can combat climate change in a
cost-effective way while generating crucial, additional benefits for
indigenous peoples, local communities and biodiversity.”
“Given
the scale of the challenges involved and in order to come to reliable REDD-plus
financing, we need to move beyond the markets versus funds discussion,” says
James Griffiths, Managing Director at the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development. “A flexible portfolio
approach with different funding sources and reliable donor coordination is
imperative.”
“The
leaders that participate in our dialogues are concerned that many in the
forest sector are pinning their hopes on REDD while the real issue is a REDD-plus
design that will be able to deliver when the pressure is on and to which we
hope our recommendations will contribute,” says Gary Dunning, Executive
Director of The Forests Dialogue. “Transparent, inclusive and accountable
forest management, based on local processes, should underpin REDD-plus.”
Safeguards
must guarantee equitable participation and distribution mechanisms for
indigenous peoples and local communities as well as biodiversity conservation.
“Forest
governance reform requires strong partnerships founded on respect for the
rights and active participation of indigenous peoples and local
communities,” says Carlos Chex, from the Guatemalan Indigenous Peoples
organization Sotz´il. “Key areas of concern are the clarification and
strengthening of tenure, property and carbon rights.”
The
TFD report “Investing in REDD-plus” stresses the urgency to establish
clear financial accounting standards and regulations. TFD also suggests that a
global oversight body is set up to mainstream activities with respect to
carbon accounting and verification of performance against social,
environmental and financial safeguards.
“We
do not need to reinvent the wheel to develop robust international controls and
monitoring frameworks for REDD-plus activities. Experience managing and
disbursing development funds in challenging countries, years of work on carbon
monitoring, reporting frameworks and forest certification systems provides a
solid learning platform,” says Chris Knight, Assistant Director,
Sustainability and Climate Change, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. “Ongoing
discussions need to learn from existing systems and engage the finance sector
in order to develop a financial mechanism and future market which is
investible and attractive to the mainstream capital markets.”
More
than 100 stakeholders have been involved in this collaborative initiative
facilitated by TFD to build an effective international mechanism for tackling
the climate, community and biodiversity issues associated with deforestation.
Download:
TFD
Dialogue on REDD Finance Background Materials: http://www.theforestsdialogue.org
and http://www.theforestsdialogue.org/climate.html
REDD-plus
includes reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation,
conservation, sustainable management of forests and carbon stock enhancements,
and envisages to offers multiple environmental and social benefits, including
biodiversity conservation, adaptation advantages in the form of restored
ecosystem services such as watershed protection and the equitable
benefit-sharing for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
The
TFD dialogues that developed these recommendations were made possible with the
support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the Swiss
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Secretariat of the United
Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD), Intercooperation, the International Tropical Timber
Organisation (ITTO), the Word Bank and the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
IUCN,
International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find
pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development
challenges.
IUCN
works on biodiversity, climate change, energy, human livelihoods and greening
the world economy by supporting scientific research, managing field projects
all over the world, and bringing governments, NGOs, the UN and companies
together to develop policy, laws and best practice.
IUCN
is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organization, with
more than 1,000 government and NGO members and almost 11,000 volunteer experts
in some 160 countries. IUCN’s work is supported by over 1,000 staff in 60
offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the
world.
The
Forests Dialogue (TFD) is a group of individuals from diverse
interests and regions that are committed to the conservation and sustainable
forest management. Through a shared understanding of forest issues from their
own dialogues, participants in The Forests Dialogue work together in a spirit
of teamwork, trust, and commitment. They believe that their actions and
relationships can help catalyze a broader consensus on forest issues and
encourage constructive, collaborative action by individual leaders that will
improve the condition and value of forests.
Over
the past two years, TFD has held seven international dialogues engaging over
375 leaders. These stakeholders include indigenous peoples, family forest
owners, investors, academics, IGOs, ENGOs, trade unions, social NGOs, forest
industry, forest and carbon investors, retailers, and government
representatives. In October 2008 this collaboration produced the Beyond REDD
consensus statement and since then, TFD has focused its dialogue process on
the elements of a framework for REDD financing and implementation. The
consensus reached during that initiative has led to the recommendations put
forward in the Investing in REDD-plus recommendations
The World
Business Council for Sustainable Development is a unique, CEO-led,
global association of some 200 companies dealing exclusively with business and
sustainable development. The Council provides a platform for companies to
explore sustainable development, share knowledge, experiences and best
practices, and to advocate business positions on these issues in a variety of
forums, working with governments and non-governmental and intergovernmental
organizations.
For
more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
-
Brian
Thomson, IUCN Media Manager, m +41 79 721 8326 (Swiss), m +668 0446
3563 (Thai) (in Bangkok)
-
Sarah
Horsley, IUCN Media Relations Officer, t +41 22 999 0127, m +41 79 528
3486 (in Switzerland)
-
Gary
Dunning, TFD Executive Director, m +1 203627 8757, (in Bangkok)
-
Moira
O'Brien-Malone, WBCSD Communications and Media Relations, t +41 22 839
31 56, m +41 79 377 7958 (in Switzerland)
~~~~~
Twitter/MaximsNews:
