ASB News and Events

In the last few weeks a number of REDD related events have been held around Africa: the Ready for REDD Forum at the UNFCCC Climate Change talks in Accra (21-27 August); A Special Ministerial Session on REDD and Climate Change during the Ministerial Council of the Central African Forest Commission – COMIFAC in Bangui (9-11 September — download the Declaration de Bangui); The Katoomba Group meeting for East and Southern Africa in Dar es Salaam (15-18 September); and the Africa Forest Forum Workshop on Climate Change and Variability in Africa in Nairobi (23-25 September). ASB was present and active in all of these events.

These meetings have heightened discussions on REDD and climate change in the continent on two key questions: How is Africa going to approach the negotiations leading up to a post 2012 arrangement in Copenhagen in 2009? How ready is Africa for REDD?

A Common Position

Regarding the negotiations, there is consensus on the need for African countries to adopt a common position given the stakes of the upcoming negotiations. Some voices within the continent caution, however, that the common position should adequately recognize the diversity of interests in the region with respect to humid forests, dry forests and woodlands. UNEP and the African Forest Forum (AFF) are planning projects to support African negotiators in this respect- i.e. by organizing preparatory meetings and providing technical backstopping during negotiations. The Congo Basin group is perhaps the most advanced in developing a common position through recent REDD submissions to the UNFCCC process. The Congo Basin group have concentrated on the need to include forest degradation in REDD and floated the idea of an “allowance for development or permissible emissions due to development.” Substantive work on definition, measureable and modalities for implementation is yet to begin in earnest.
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We have the pleasure to annouce the appointment of Dr. Cesar Sabogal as the Coordinator for the Amazon Initiative Eco-Regional Programme (AI-SWEP), from 9th September, 2008. He is based in Belem, Brazil.

Subsequently, the Amazon Initiative (AI) appointed Cesar as the AI liaison and GSG member.

Dr. Sabogal, a Peruvian national graduated with a Msc. in forestry from the National Agricultural University La Molina in Peru, and has a Ph.D. in Forest Sciences from the University of Göttingen, Germany.

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Avoided Deforestation Partners is planning to to bring together a group of internationally recognized climate policy experts to develop a series of freely available methodology modules for advancing Avoided Deforestation projects. These modules will enable project developers to estimate the real emission reductions of projects that reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation ("REDD"). The project is being directed by Dr. Charlotte Streck — AD Partners and Climate Focus, the Netherlands.

The two Nobel laureates emphasized the role deforestation plays in poverty, conflict and increasing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. As the world's largest consumer of resources and a potential leader of efforts to combat climate change and poverty, the United States has a central role to play in protecting tropical forests, the speakers argued. They urged U.S. policy makers and the next administration to incorporate forest protection into any upcoming domestic climate legislation.

UN-REDD, will assist nine developing countries, including Bolivia, Indonesia and Zambia, in establishing systems to monitor, assess and report forest cover. Tropical countries are pushing to include UN-REDD in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Norway, which is looking for ways to offset carbon dioxide emissions from its growing natural gas export business, donated $35 million to finance the initial phase of UN-REDD.