[enviro-vlc] CIFOR Report on "Moving ahead with REDD: Issues, options and implications"]

[Vern Weitzel]

Download the document at: http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Publications/Detail?pid=2601

Subject: [SEA-SPAN] CIFOR Report on "Moving ahead with REDD: Issues, options and 
implications"
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:32:07 -0700
From: user at sea-user.org


New Analysis from Global Forestry Group Offers Options for
Negotiators Seeking to Craft Critical Accord on Forests and Climate Change

CIFOR - 5 December, 2008
POZNAN

Leading Scientists Say That Technical Options Exist to Address Most
Challenges, and that the Difficult Choices Will Involve Making Trade-offs
Among Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) today released a
comprehensive analysis clarifying major challenges and offering an
assortment of options that could help negotiators reach a  global agreement
on reducing carbon emissions tied to forest destruction and degradation.

The report, Moving ahead with REDD: Issues, options and implications, is
set to be released as officials from around the world have gathered here
under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). Negotiators are seeking to outline a new global agreement for
reducing greenhouse gases, which will set the stage for final decisions
scheduled for 2009 in Copenhagen.

Central to the process is the effort aimed at reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation, or REDD, which will involve financial
incentives and compensation for developing countries to conserve their
forests. The idea is that REDD will enable forest conservation to compete
financially with the economic drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation, which currently favor destructive logging practices and
conversion of forest land to other uses, such as cattle pasture and
plantation crops.

Estimates suggest that forest loss and degradation account for up to one
fifth of the annual global greenhouse gases attributed to human activity,
and calculations indicate that REDD will  be more cost-effective than most
climate mitigation measures. The CIFOR report suggests that integrating
REDD with tighter overall emissions targets will enable negotiators to
deliver a more ambitious global climate strategy for little or no extra
cost.

But there are a range of complex issues facing the talks, such as: the
appropriate scale for implementing REDD projects; how to incorporate forest
degradation (as opposed to simply deforestation) as part of the agreement;
whether or not technology is sufficiently advanced to measure and monitor
forest-based carbon; how to guarantee that forests conserved for carbon are
not subsequently lost; and how to ensure that the rights of forest-dwelling
communities are recognized and respected.