Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation: A Synthesis Report for REDD+ Policymakers

EU Pavilion side event

Organiser: UK DECC

CIFOR participation: Martin Herold

GMES and EU FP7 REDD+ projects

EU Pavilion side event

Organiser: GMES/REDD+

CIFOR participation: Martin Herold

China-Africa Partnership: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption through Bamboo Development

An official UNFCCC COP 18 side event

The transfer of knowledge and technology from China to Africa is a successful tool for sustainable development in the bamboo sector. Global experts share their perspectives, and discuss and showcase effective and innovative cases in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Organiser: International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and China Green Carbon Foundation (CGCF)

CIFOR participation: Lou Verchot was one of the speakers.

REDD+ stepwise progress in national forest monitoring, MRV, reference levels and assessing drivers

An official UNFCCC COP 18 side event

CIFOR and GOFC-GOLD present practical approaches to assessing drivers of deforestation and degradation, and relate these approaches to a stepwise method for developing REDD+ capacity that reflects country circumstances and that will facilitate broad participation, early start-up and the motivation for improvements over time.

Engaging Communities in Sustainable Landscapes with Enhanced Adaptation and Lower Emissions

An official UNFCCC COP 18 side event

Challenges and tools for smallholders and communities to practice sustainable agriculture and forestry achieving both climate adaptation and mitigation, with new studies on the role between community forestry and adaptation, and their integration in planning, capacity building and monitoring.

Organiser: RECOFTC and Rainforest Alliance

CIFOR participation: Houria Djoudi delivered a presentation on the role of forest on adaptation.

Strengthening Institutional Capacities for Climate Change Research and Training: Lessons-Learned

An official UNFCCC COP 18 side event

Nine research and training organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Pacific and the Caribbean collectively form a Climate Change Capacity Development (C3D) network. The partners collaborate in developing and testing methodologies in support of climate change decision making.

Organiser: Environnement et Developpement du Tiers-Monde (ENDA-TM)

CIFOR participation: Houria Djoudi delivered a presentation on the CRiSTAL Forest project results and lessons learned.

Facts, Figures and Findings: A Dialogue on the Indonesia Moratorium

Organiser: World Resources Institute

The World Resources Institute will lead a discussion on the implementation and effectiveness of Indonesia's two-year moratorium on new licenses for conversion of primary natural forest and peatland. This discussion will be informed by analyses completed by WRI and partners of the likely long-term impacts of the moratorium and progress towards key governance reforms. There will be a short presentation followed by a panel discussion.

CIFOR participation: Daniel Murdiyarso was one of the speakers.

REDD-ALERT side event: Is the window of opportunity for REDD+ closing?

Organiser: Robin Matthews, James Hutton Institute

Speakers: Lou Verchot, Robin Matthews, Ole Mertz, Meine van Noordwijk, Daniel Müller

New finance mechanisms for forest conservation: Multistakeholder initiatives and policy interventions to tackle drivers of deforestation and catalyse forest-friendly finance

Commercial and export-oriented agriculture are increasingly supplanting smallholder agriculture as drivers of deforestation. Actors throughout supply chains of forest risk commodities are taking steps to reduce their impacts on forests. The investor community is increasingly concerned about the impacts of their investments on forests and climate. Leading experts present new initiatives and alliances that aim to deliver long-term food-security without deforestation.

Speakers:

• Michael Obersteiner International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis
• Nathalie Walker, Forest Footprint Disclosure Project
• Matt Legget, Global Canopy Programme
• Pipa Elias, Union of Concerned Scientists

Organiser: The Forest Footprint Disclosure Project, the Global Canopy Programme, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

CIFOR participation: Martin Herold was the moderator.

Mobilizing LULUCF in the Post-Kyoto Framework

An official UNFCCC COP 18 side event

COP17 in Durban brought important changes to LULUCF carbon accounting rules. Can the Durban agreement adequately mobilize LULUCF in the Post-Kyoto Framework, in particular through greater efforts at climate change mitigation and the efficient and balanced use of forest-based resources?

Organiser: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

CIFOR participation: Lou Verchot was one of the speakers.

Forest Day 6

About 700 forestry experts, activists, policymakers, global leaders and climate change negotiators gathered on December 2 for the sixth annual Forest Day to discuss how forests could be better harnessed to slow the pace of global warming and help communities adapt to the changing environment.

Under the banner of "Living Landscapes", which referred to the interconnections between forests and agriculture and their impacts on people and society, Forest Day 6 kicked off the first of two popular conferences on the sidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) annual Conference of the Parties in 2012. Forest Day 6 was followed by Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day 5 on December 3 at the same venue.

ALL Day 5 Roundtable Sessions: Developing landscape approaches for adaptation

Societies and natural environment are vulnerable to climate change. We can identify general adaptation principles at national levels, but adaptation is very much location-specific. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) is an anthropocentric approach, in which ecosystem services are conserved or restored to reduce the vulnerability of people facing climate change threats. Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from (agro)ecosystems and can be classified as provisioning services (e.g. timber and firewood), regulating services (e.g. water regulation), and cultural services (e.g. recreation). Many international and nongovernmental conservation and development organizations have promoted EBA by stressing its effectiveness in reducing social vulnerability, its cost efficiency, and its co-benefits for biodiversity conservation, poverty reduction and climate change mitigation.

Organiser: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) and CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

CIFOR participation: Robert Nasi introduced the session and Houria Djoudi delivered a presentation on EBA and the role of forests in six short stories.

Coastal Carbon – Importance of natural coasts for climate change mitigation

Organiser: Conservation International (CIFOR sponsored event)

Speakers: J Boone Kauffman, Rabi Mohtar, Mehsin Abdulla Al-Ansi, Fred Boltz, Emily Pidgeon, Lewis LeVay.

Potential synergies between REDD+ and sustainable forest management in tropical areas

EU Pavilion side event

This event presented the lessons learned from a project funded by the French Global Environment Fund (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD), and carried out in Central Africa and Brazil (FORAFAMA project) by CIFOR, ONFI, CIRAD, FRM, TEREA and IRD.

The FORAFAMA project seeks to summarise available knowledge on the links between forest management and climate change in Central Africa and in Amazonia, to support pilot projects in forest concessions, and to contribute to strengthening the positions of states and forest societies in future discussions on the implementation of the REDD+ process.

Organiser: CIFOR and ONF International

CIFOR participation: Richard Eba'a Atyi moderated the session, Denis Sonwa and Samuel Assembe delivered presentations.

Learn more about the issues facing the Congo Basin forests here.

Transboundary Natural Resources Management in a Changing Climate – The Case of Shared Watersheds in Africa

Over the recent decade Africa has transformed itself. With average annual growth rates of around five per cent, new opportunities and prospects for African livelihoods are opening up. The challenge is now to ensure that economic growth will benefit all segments of African societies and that the growth will remain robust in light of population growth and global change. Consequently, the African Development Bank has made inclusive green growth its long‐term strategic focus. Inclusive green growth is about ensuring quality of growth. It is about supporting Africa in realizing its development ambitions, while promoting resource use efficiency, sustainability and resilience. Within this context, the African Development Bank hosted a series of side events to address key African climate change issues during COP18..

Organiser: African Development Bank

CIFOR participation: Richard Eba'a Atyi participated as one of the panelists