1 NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM WWF’S INTERNATIONAL FOREST AND CLIMATE PROGRAMME ISSUE 3 2015 NEWS FOREST AND CLIMATE PROGRAMME PHOTO CREDIT: UNCLIMATECHANGE A t the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Bonn, Germany, the last few technical issues for a mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) were officially finalized. This marks the conclusion of a 10-year process of international negotiations around REDD+, which seeks to channel resources to countries for keeping forests standing and combating emissions that contribute to climate change. In an unexpected achievement for REDD+ in Bonn, the negotiations on the three remaining issues – further guid- ance for safeguards, non-carbon benefits and non-market-based approaches – were concluded, meaning that REDD+ technical negotiations are now complete. While the biggest policy victory came in 2013 with the adoption of the Warsaw Framework for REDD+, which com- pleted the rulebook for this mechanism, the success in Bonn marks an important step forward and a good model for other multilateral negotiation processes. Now that negotiations have finished, countries can focus on REDD+ action on the ground. This success will also support one of WWF’s overall conservation goals of halting deforestation and forest degradation in a way that benefits both humans and nature. WWF will continue to play an important role in supporting and enabling the implementation of these rules and decisions. In particular, WWF will work to ensure that REDD+ plans and strategies meet the highest standards of safeguards and environmental integrity – respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and protecting biodiversity. “While an unprecedented amount of support has been channelled to the forest and climate agenda, we continue to call for adequate and predictable finance for REDD+,” said Josefina Braña-Varela, Policy Director for the WWF Forest and Climate Programme. “We need this funding to be guaranteed so that countries can rise to the challenge of getting the technical elements estab- lished, move from readiness to action, and deliver real results in emissions reductions.” “With these international policy pieces in place, countries have all the guidance needed to implement REDD+ strategies. WWF’s efforts become even more essential now in supporting REDD+ in the real world and proving that it can make a positive change on people, the climate and biodiversity,” said Braña-Varela. Major win for forests at climate meeting in Bonn
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NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM WWF’S INTERNATIONAL FOREST AND CLIMATE PROGRAMME
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At the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Bonn, Germany, the last few technical issues for a
mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) were officially finalized. This marks the conclusion of a 10-year process of international negotiations around REDD+, which seeks to channel resources to countries for keeping forests standing and combating emissions that contribute to climate change.
In an unexpected achievement for REDD+ in Bonn, the negotiations on the three remaining issues – further guid-ance for safeguards, non-carbon benefits and non-market-based approaches – were concluded, meaning that REDD+ technical negotiations are now complete.
While the biggest policy victory came in 2013 with the adoption of the Warsaw Framework for REDD+, which com-pleted the rulebook for this mechanism, the success in Bonn marks an important step forward and a good model for other multilateral negotiation processes. Now that negotiations have finished, countries can focus on REDD+ action on the ground. This success will also support one of WWF’s overall conservation goals of halting deforestation and forest degradation in a way that benefits both humans and nature.
WWF will continue to play an important role in supporting and enabling the implementation of these rules and decisions. In particular, WWF will work to ensure that REDD+ plans and strategies meet the highest standards of safeguards and environmental integrity – respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and protecting biodiversity.
“While an unprecedented amount of support has been channelled to the forest and climate agenda, we continue to call for adequate and predictable finance for REDD+,” said Josefina Braña-Varela, Policy Director for the WWF Forest and
Climate Programme. “We need this funding to be guaranteed so that countries can rise to the challenge of getting the technical elements estab-lished, move from readiness to action, and deliver real results in emissions reductions.”
“With these international policy pieces in place, countries have all the guidance needed to implement REDD+ strategies. WWF’s efforts become even more essential now in supporting REDD+ in the real world and proving that it can make a positive change on people, the climate and biodiversity,” said Braña-Varela.
INTERVIEW WITH MARIA FERNANDA JARAMILLO ............................. 6INTERVIEW WITH PETER UMUNAY ................ 8
REDD+ CAPACITY BUILDING
LEARNING SESSION: ZERO NET DEFORESTATION – HOW FAR DO CURRENT NATIONAL TARGETS GET US? ...................... 5LEARNING SESSION: FOREST AND CLIMATE OUTCOMES FROM BONN: HIGHLIGHTS AND NEXT STEPS FOR REDD+ ........ 5LEARNING SESSION: THE LAND SECTOR, CLIMATE ACTION PLANS AND THE 2015 AGREEMENT ....................... 5
WWF’s Forest and Climate Programme works to ensure that the conservation of tropical forests as carbon stores is secured by green economic development that benefits people, the climate and biodiversity in transformational ways.
www.panda.org/forestclimate
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CANOPY IS ALSO AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY VIA EMAIL. SUBSCRIBE AT: bit.ly/CNPY-nws
NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM WWF’S GLOBAL FOREST
AND CLIMATE PROGRAMME
FEATURE
MAJOR WIN FOR FORESTS AT CLIMATE MEETING IN BONN .................... 1
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From concept to reality: UN-REDD Programme’s REDD+ Academy explained Decision-makers from developing countries can access capacity development for REDD+ readiness and implementation through the UN-REDD Programme’s REDD+ Academy. This short video illustrates how knowledge received by REDD+ Academy participants strengthens their capacity to push the REDD+ agenda in their countries and become “champions of change.
WATCH: bit.ly/1Li8qcf
VIDEO
Deforestation fronts Half of the world’s tropical forests have been destroyed over the past century. If business as usual continues, up to 170 million hectares of additional deforestation will occur by 2030, according to the WWF Living Forests model, and large areas of remaining forest will continue to be degraded.
WATCH: bit.ly/1IPkMbt
HERMINE KLEYMANN AND JOSEFINA BRAÑA-VARELA, WWF FOREST AND
CLIMATE PROGRAMME POLICY EXPERTS AT THE BONN MEETINGS
WWF SUPPORTS FOREST ACTION AT WORLD SUMMIT ON CLIMATE & TERRITORIES
PLANS TO CUT DEFORESTATION NEED TO AIM HIGHER
WWF WELCOMES APRIL’S NEW DEFORESTATION MORATORIUM, CAREFUL SCRUTINY REQUIRED ON IMPLEMENTATION
CLIMATE NEGOTIATORS DELIVER WIN FOR FORESTS WITH BREAKTHROUGH IN BONN
UN TALKS INCH CLOSER TO CLIMATE DEAL
WWF AND UNILEVER ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO INSPIRE CONSUMERS AND HELP PROTECT A MILLION TREES
In July, 800 participants from around the world, including members of the WWF Forest and Climate Programme, gathered in Lyon, France for the World Summit on Climate & Territories. French President François Holland and Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were in attendance.
The event was an opportunity for the major groups of non-state actors, including subnational and local govern-ments, NGOs, business, indigenous groups and youth, to make their voices heard and highlight the importance of a territorial perspective on climate. With an eye towards the global climate agreement in Paris in December, the Lyon event focused on how concrete commitments from non-state actors, local and regional authorities help make it possible to keep the average increase in global temperatures below 2 °C.
MORE: bit.ly/1Io2dg1
In a year when targets on forest loss and restoration are likely to be set nationally and at the UN level, a new study by WWF-UK and Climate Advisers quantifies the ambition of commitments currently stated by forest countries to slow and reverse their forest loss – individually and collectively.
The commitments are assessed against two targets: first, the goal of Zero Net Deforestation and Degradation by 2020, as advocated by WWF; and, second, halving the rate of natural forest loss by 2020 and eliminating it by 2030. The latter is based on the timeline in New York Declaration on Forests made in September 2014.
MORE: bit.ly/1HJOr75
WWF has welcomed an immediate moratorium on natural forest clearing, and new peatland development in an upgraded Sustainable Forestry Management Plan announced by pulp and paper company Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL).
“The enhanced Sustainable Forest Management Policy announced is APRIL’s response to longstanding calls to quit deforestation by civil society groups. WWF hopes APRIL can fully implement this commitment considering its potentially positive environment and social impacts,” said Dr Efransjah, CEO of WWF-Indonesia.
MORE: bit.ly/1dG7W4d
Climate-change negotiators met in Bonn to approve the last few remaining technical provisions for REDD+, creating a standardized set of mechanisms that countries can begin incorporating into their climate strategies. Still unclear, however, is whether countries can meet their emission-reduction obligations by reducing deforestation abroad.
MORE: bit.ly/1Gtn0MS
UN negotiations recently concluded in Bonn with slow but steady progress on a new climate agreement. For the first time, all countries signalled that more ambitious emissions cuts are needed in the next five years, and the talks also concluded 10 years of negotiations on forests.
Although some progress was made, it is now clear that climate negotiations are not on target to keep global tempera-tures below the 2 degrees Celsius limit that all countries have agreed represents dangerous climate change.
MORE: bit.ly/1G7FUWd
WWF and Unilever have announced a one-year, international partnership to engage consumers in the fight against deforestation – one of the key drivers of climate change – and help protect a million trees.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS The community of REDD+ practitioners and experts from around the world grows every day, and WWF’s global Forest and Climate Programme is working to ensure that the capacity-building and informational materials it produces are available to a diverse audience.
T his report focused on a sample of 14 countries that together represent over half of current and projected tropical forest area loss. It draws
attention to the ambitious targets of some countries and the need for greater interna-tional support for meeting them. It also identifies opportunities where additional ambition is possible. In selecting the 14 countries, we focused on those that fall within 11 global “deforestation fronts” identified by WWF earlier in 2015. In total, the targets of the 14 countries combined would reduce annual forest loss in the tropics by an area the size of Belgium in 2020. But this is still just a 30 per cent cut on the total expected loss across all deforesting tropical countries. Moreover,
ZERO NET DEFORESTATION: STATUS REPORT – HOW FAR DO CURRENT NATIONAL TARGETS GET US?
LIVING FORESTS REPORT: SAVING FORESTS AT RISK
This report examines where most deforestation is likely to occur in the near term, the main causes and the solutions for reversing
the projected trends. Globally, the biggest cause of deforestation is expand-ing agriculture – including commercial livestock and palm oil and soy produc-tion, but also encroachment by small-scale farmers. Unsustainable logging and fuelwood collection can contribute to forest degradation, or “death by a thousand cuts,” while mining, hydroelectricity and other infrastructure projects bring new roads that open forests to settlers and agriculture.
COLOMBIA ECUADOR BRAZIL BOLIVIA PERU ARGENTINA PARAGUAY DRC MOZAMBIQUE TANZANIA INDONESIA MALAYSIA PNGMYANMAR
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WWF advocates the global goal of Zero Net Deforestation and Degradation by 2020. The New York Declaration on Forests signed by world leaders in 2014 sets the goal of ending natural forest loss by 2030. This diagram summarises how well current national commitments in 14 countries match that ambition. These 14 countries account for over half of current tropical deforestation and each affects one or more of the global ‘deforestation fronts’ identified by WWF for the period up to 2030.
PROJECTED FOREST LOSS TARGET FOR RESTORATION OF FOREST LAND
TARGET FOR REDUCTION IN FOREST LOSSNET LOSS OR GAIN IN MILLIONS OF HECTARES IF TARGETS MET DEFORESTATION FRONTS
Showing net forest loss or gain in 14 key countries if their national targets are met in 2020 or 2030
up to 95 per cent of these reductions could be conditional on international finance – from wealthier governments or the private sector.
LEARNING SESSION: FOREST AND CLIMATE OUTCOMES FROM BONN: HIGHLIGHTS AND NEXT STEPS FOR REDD+
In an unexpected achievement for REDD+ at the recent UN climate meetings in Bonn, Germany, the negotiations on the three remaining
issues – further guidance for safeguards, non-carbon benefits and non-market-based approaches – were concluded, meaning that REDD+ technical negotia-tions are now complete. In this webinar, members of the WWF Forest and Climate Programme policy team discuss these outcomes and next steps for the forest and climate agenda.
WATCH: bit.ly/1D0CTqp
LEARNING SESSION: THE LAND SECTOR, CLIMATE ACTION PLANS AND THE 2015 AGREEMENT
T he land sector presents an oppor-tunity to mitigate and adapt to climate change while enhancing food security, green growth and
sustainable livelihoods. However, it is still under discussion how this sector will be included in national contribu-tions and in the new climate agreement. This discussion and learning event focuses on land use in the UNFCCC. Presenters review existing guidance for countries to develop their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and their relevance for the land sector, as well as options for the inclusion of the land sector in the 2015 climate agreement.
WATCH: bit.ly/1LRX7d9
LEARNING SESSION: ZERO NET DEFORESTATION – HOW FAR DO CURRENT NATIONAL TARGETS GET US?
In 2015, the Paris climate summit and the agreement of new Sustainable Development Goals give the interna-tional community an unprecedented
opportunity to lock in a high-ambition pathway for forests. The New York Declaration on Forests set the goal to halve the rate of global forest loss by 2020 and end it by 2030. WWF calls for even higher ambition: Zero Net Deforestation and Degradation by 2020. This webinar presents headline findings of a WWF-UK and Climate Advisers collaboration to assess how far current national targets to reduce deforestation and restore forests take us to either of these zero deforestation futures.
WATCH: bit.ly/1IFaivf
WWF FOREST AND CLIMATE PROGRAMME LEARNING SESSIONS ARE FREE AND ARE DESIGNED TO LEVERAGE AND SHARE REDD+ KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE. EVERY MONTH, WE INVITE A REDD+ EXPERT TO PRESENT ON A KEY ISSUE SO THAT REDD+ PRACTITIONERS CAN HAVE ACCESS TO THE LATEST INFORMATION RELEVANT TO REDD+. To watch an archived Learning Session or to register for an upcoming webinar, please visit: bit.ly/REDDlearn.
reserve in the southern part of Colombia, helping distinguish how a specific group of indigenous people used their natural resources. As I was helping these people establish a protected territory, I saw how WWF was providing financial and technical support. This work exposed me to WWF’s way of doing things before I worked for them.
I love the ethical, philosophical and practical way WWF does conservation work. As an anthropologist, I believe it’s very important that people are included in decision-making. Seeing how WWF included the concerns of indigenous peoples in their conservation work drew me to this organization.
Q: What background experience do you have in conservation? MFJ: I studied anthropology at the School of Anthropology and History in Mexico. While completing my under-graduate thesis in the Yucatán Peninsula, I had the opportunity to help the Mexican government look at the link between people and conservation. This fieldwork allowed me to learn about the connec-tions between ecology, biology and anthropology. For more than 20 years I have been working from this transdisci-plinary perspective, giving support to many community conservation initiatives.
Q: What are some of your favourite resources that help educate audiences on deforestation and REDD+? MFJ: Videos are very good resources to reach the general public, whether they are animated or feature real interviews. I’ve found that webinars are great resources for REDD+ practitioners. Before I joined our team, I didn’t have much experience with webinars, but after going through our webinar library, I see how useful they are. Webinars are best for providing support to practitioners who
REDD+ PEOPLE
Q: What is your current role with WWF? MFJ: I am the Knowledge Sharing and Learning Manager for the Forest and Climate Programme. My role has two main tasks: developing a culture of learning within WWF and contributing to capacity building. I support WWF teams, sharing lessons learned within teams and between country partners. This role is important to improve our effectiveness and to help REDD+ practitioners avoid making the same mistakes.
I also help countries design and imple-ment their capacity-building efforts in a more sustainable way. Today, capacity building is very dependent on financing for specific projects, so when funding ends, those capacity-building efforts
MARIA FERNANDA JARAMILLO Knowledge Sharing and Learning Manager, WWF Forest and Climate Programme
disappear. I’m helping WWF create alliances with networks, universities and online learning platforms to support REDD+ capacity-building efforts independent of project financing. Our team is working to partner with universities that include REDD+ in their curriculum, leading students to contribute to current REDD+ projects and capacity-building efforts. As students learn about the systemic challenges REDD+ faces, they can then simultane-ously work to address these challenges in the field.
Q: What led you to work for WWF? MFJ: I began working for WWF-Colombia as a consultant in 2001, coming on staff later that year. Prior to this, I had been working in a nature
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are already educated about REDD+. I am hoping to work to make these webinars even more useful and interactive.
Q: What hopes do you have for your work in the next year? MFJ: I’m looking forward to collaborating closely with country teams – to learn from them about their experiences. I think it’s very interesting how we are working in such different contexts toward many of the same goals. I will enjoy seeing how they use the learning tools we develop.
Q: What are some of the greatest chal-lenges you’ve found in raising awareness and gaining support for forest conserva-tion and REDD+? MFJ: I found that many people don’t understand what REDD+ is. Many people think REDD+ is just money for forests, but it’s important to know that REDD+ contributes to local and regional sustain-able development, working with communities, governments and policy-makers. The challenge is to show others that REDD+ is a very powerful tool, not only a financial resource.
Q: What opportunities do you see for REDD+ learning in the upcoming years? MFJ: With this being such a new field of knowledge and practice, there are many different approaches to the work. Because we learn by doing, day-to-day, we have the opportunity to combine the elements of everyone’s best practices. It’s important to have this open perspec-tive, rather than view different REDD+ efforts as competing against one another. With reflection and analysis throughout the upcoming years, there will be significant opportunities for growth in REDD+ conservation efforts.
REDD+ SPECIES
BABOONWOODCommon Names:baboonwood, wild nutmeg, ucuúba tree
Scientific Name: Virola surinamensis
Location: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Panama, Peru, Surinam, Venezuela
Status:Near Threatened
Virola surinamensis, better known as the baboonwood, belongs to the Myristicaceae family, a plant family best known for its fragrant, spicy seeds of nutmeg. This tree grows to reach 25-40m in height and inhabits subtropical and tropical lowland forests; subtropical and tropical swamps; and heavily degraded former forests.
Baboonwood produces ucuúba fruit biannu-ally from May through June and from November through December. The ucuúba fruit is yellow to brown in colour and splits in half when ripe, revealing a bright red-coated seed inside. Ucuúba flesh is used to make butter, and the seeds are used to make ucuúba oil.
While the baboonwood is a dominant species in tropical forests, it is becoming increasingly endangered due to habitat loss and the international demand for its timber.
Please see the list of information sources at bit.ly/baboonwood
workshops at local, provincial and national levels, for the preparation of the DRC’s REDD+ Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP). Following the R-PP, I helped write the proposal for the implementation of the Mambasa REDD+ Pilot project located in the Ituri landscape.
Q: How did you hear about the Russell E. Train Fellowship and how is this fellowship contributing to your work? PU: The Russell E. Train Fellowship is very well known in the conservation field. I received the application from a consortium of conservation organiza-tions since 2008, but waited until 2014 to apply for the fellowship in order to have a more competitive application.
Q: What drew you to pursue your Ph.D. at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies? PU: After completing a two-year master’s programme at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, I noticed that the school provides a great environment to do interdisciplinary research, in addition to tremendous human and financial resources. Furthermore, Yale’s size, diversity and commitment to excellence were strong attractors.
Q: What does your research focus on?
PU: I am interested in technical and policy implementation of REDD+. Through a combination of remote sensing and field data, my research focuses on responding to the challenges of designing scientifically credible, cost-effective and transparent national-scale monitoring systems able to quantify, monitor and report carbon stocks and human-induced deforestation and forest degradation in DRC.
The application of my work is to build a model that links activities causing forest
Q: What background experience do you have in wildlife conservation? PU: I graduated from the University of Kisangani with a License (B.S.) in biology and focus in forest ecology and plant systematics. Thereafter, I received a job offer from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to complete a census of Ituri Forest Dynamic Plots coordinated by the Center of Tropical Forest Science. What began as a 12-month contract went on to become a five-year professional career with WCS. I led the forest inventory unit and the REDD+ programme of the WCS-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Forestry project based in the Ituri forest landscape, and worked in different projects related to protecting wildlife populations, including a management plan for the Okapi Faunal Reserve, participatory mapping and community-based forest management across the landscape.
Q: What led you to become involved in forest conservation, specifically REDD+? PU: Throughout a variety of experiences
– beginning with my childhood in a farming community in the DRC,, continuing during my degrees in forest ecology and during my roles with various forest organizations – I have become aware of the services forests provide to support the livelihoods of millions of forest-dependent people, and the impacts of human activities in changing forest dynamics and climate. REDD+ appears to hold great promise and could be a major step forward to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, protect species diversity, and simultane-ously improve forest-dependent people’s livelihoods and fight climate change.
I was interested in participating in REDD+ at early implementation stages, and because of my field experience I was frequently chosen to represent WCS in
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Contributed by Jordan Ackerman, WWF Forest and Climate Programme
and biodiversity loss to underlying drivers. My research is then used to construct reference scenarios to deter-mine the scope for emission reductions and biodiversity conservation.
Q: How do you hope your research will improve the field of forest conservation? PU: My research must be able to establish links between REDD+ initiatives and other conservation management frameworks to ensure that these maximize the social and biodiversity benefits of REDD+. The links between forest management, climate change mitigation and conserva-tion interventions must be framed and oriented toward emission reductions, biodiversity conservation and human well-being.
Q: What is the greatest challenge for REDD+ in DRC? PU: Governance, the processes and forest-related policies are the greatest challenges for the success of REDD+ in DRC. DRC, as many forest-rich countries,
has weak institutions and weak policy enforcement for forests, biodiversity and forest-dependent people. Deforestation drivers – such as agricultural expansion, logging and extractives – in combination with land tenure and safeguard issues are often symptoms of a larger failure of governance. Q: What are your hopes for forest conservation in DRC? PU: The DRC government has initiated ambitious policy reform with the creation of a National Environmental Agency and the adoption of a governance matrix. The National Environmental Agency could coordinate natural resource management across sectors and advise the government on effective policies and measures. On the other hand, the government matrix aims to link REDD+ and extractives as an opportunity to steer the country toward a green economy and reduce negative impacts on forests, biodiversity and forest-dependent communities. In addition, the DRC government has also committed to expanding protected areas
To celebrate (a bit over) six months with our new team lead Peter Graham, we are sharing these WWF Forest and Climate Programme highlights, along with an invitation to our partners to work together on even more in the months and years ahead.
MORE: bit.ly/1UKihO4
from 11 per cent to 17 per cent of the national territory, a goal that is sup-ported by the Programme to the Network of Protected Areas (PARAP). If all of these initiatives work, they can contrib-ute to effective governance and therefore protect forests.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your current work and research? PU: I like the fact that I am taking an interdisciplinary approach, including learning from work done in other countries, and working with people whose expertise is different from mine. I am also happy that the technical part is coming along, and the acquisition of high-resolution images will help assess deforestation and degradation trends in DRC’s forest and estimate carbon. Finally, I enjoy the fact that my scientific adviser and co-adviser give me the opportunity to explore different things that will help me frame my research questions.
“UNLESS WE UNDERSTAND HOW FORESTS ARE MANAGED AND HOW WOMEN USE FORESTS, THERE’S A RISK THAT DECISIONS WILL BE MADE ABOUT FOREST USE THAT COULD HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON WOMEN’S LIVELIHOODS AND RESILIENCE.”
– Anne Larson, Principal Scientist, CIFOR
On WWF’s sustainable forest collaboration with Apple:
“THIS PROJECT IS AN UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITY TO DRIVE RESPONSIBLE FORESTRY IN CHINA AND HIGHLIGHT AN EXCITING NEW MODEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP IN ADDRESSING FOREST FOOTPRINTS.”
– Kerry Cesareo, Senior Director of Forests, WWF-US
On the completion of REDD+ at Bonn climate meetings:
“TODAY’S BREAKTHROUGH WAS UNEXPECTED, AND COUNTRIES SHOULD BE PRAISED FOR THEIR HARD WORK OVER THE PAST DECADE. WHILE REDD+ IS FINISHED ON PAPER, THE PARIS GLOBAL DEAL MUST PROVIDE THE POLICY CERTAINTY TO IMPLEMENT REDD+ ON THE GROUND. REDD+ MUST BE ABLE TO GENERATE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF FINANCE TO REDD+ COUNTRIES, DO SO WITH ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY, AND CONTRIBUTE TO REDUCING GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE.”
– Gustavo Silva-Chávez, Program Manager, Forest Trends
On the need for more ambitious plans to curb deforestation:
“THE NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS GAVE HOPE TO A ZERO DEFORESTATION FUTURE. BUT IT REMAINS A VOLUNTARY AGREEMENT SIGNED BY ONLY 36 COUNTRIES. THERE IS NO PRETENDING THAT ENDING DEFORESTATION WILL BE EASY. BUT THAT IS ALL THE MORE REASON FOR BIG COMMITMENTS AND BIG INCENTIVES FROM GOVERNMENTS AND BUSINESS ALIKE.”
– Will Ashley-Cantello, Chief Adviser on Forests, WWF-UK
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On the new Living Forest Report from WWF:
“WWF’S ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL DEFORESTATION TRENDS HIGHLIGHTS WHERE WE CAN EXPECT TO WITNESS THE LOSS OF FORESTS IN THE COMING DECADES, AND WHAT WILL CAUSE THIS. WHILE THIS HIGHLIGHTS BIG CHALLENGES, IT ALSO IDENTIFIES A HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO HELP COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH FURTHER DOMESTIC AND GLOBAL ACTION ON FORESTS, PARTICULARLY AS PART OF A NEW CLIMATE REGIME TO BE AGREED ON IN PARIS THIS YEAR.”
– Manuel Pulgar Vidal, Minister of the Environment, Peru
On the need for adequate and predictable REDD+ finance:
“WHILE AN UNPRECEDENTED AMOUNT OF SUPPORT HAS BEEN CHANNELLED TO THE FOREST AND CLIMATE AGENDA, WE CONTINUE TO CALL FOR ADEQUATE AND PREDICTABLE FINANCE FOR REDD+. WE NEED THIS FUNDING TO BE GUARANTEED SO THAT COUNTRIES CAN RISE TO THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING THE TECHNICAL ELEMENTS ESTABLISHED, MOVE FROM READINESS TO ACTION, AND DELIVER REAL RESULTS IN EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS.”
– Josefina Braña-Varela, Policy Director, WWF Forest and Climate Programme
