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Volume
18 – January 2012
News
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Sixteenth
meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and
Technological Advice
CBD SBSTTA 16 will be held in
Montreal, Canada, from 30 April to 5 May 2012 and will discuss advice
on REDD+ biodiversity safeguards, and indicators to assess the impacts
of REDD+ on
biodiversity and on indigenous and local communities. Relevant SBSTTA
documents on REDD+ safeguards are now online for peer review at http://www.cbd.int/sbstta16/peerreview/.
New
assessment of biodiversity and forest management in REDD+
The "Global Forest Expert Panels"
(GFEP) initiative of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF)
established an Expert Panel on Biodiversity, Forest Management, and
REDD+. Led by IUFRO, the new Panel will comprehensively assess the
linkages between biodiversity, carbon and forest management in the
context of REDD+ and provide the results to CBD COP 11, UNFCCC COP 18
and UNFF 10.
More>>
Rio
Conventions Pavilion at UNFCCC COP 17
 In
Durban, South Africa, the Rio Conventions Pavilion hosted a multi-day
programme on the linkages between biodiversity, climate change and
sustainable land management. The programme included a thematic day
dedicated to REDD+ and forest landscape restoration. More>>
Forest
Day
 Forest
Day 5 was co-hosted by the
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Department of
Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries of the Republic of South
Africa, and members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF),
including the Convention on Biological Diversity. It brought together
more than 1,100 of the world's leaders and experts, practitioners and
policy makers, advocates and investors, indigenous people, community
representatives, and the media to discuss the integration of forests
into climate mitigation and adaptation from local to global levels. For
more information, see the summary
of Forest Day 5.
REDD+
negotiations at COP 17
In Durban, UNFCCC Parties adopted two
decisions related to REDD+, one on safeguards
and reference levels and one on financing.
For more information, see the assessment
of the Durban REDD+ outcomes.
The
SFPI, Carbon and Climate Change: Key messages for policy makers
 Ahead
of UNFCCC COP 17 in Durban, the
World Business Council for
Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Sustainable Forest Products Industry
(SFPI) working group updated and released its recommendations for
climate negotiators about how to fully leverage the carbon and
biodiversity benefits of sustainable forest management to achieve
climate mitigation and adaptation objectives. Developed with technical
input from NCASI, the publication outlines key science based evidence
and makes 11 specific recommends that will enable negotiators to
leverage the significant carbon and biodiversity benefits of producing
and using more wood on a sustainable basis, including the proposed REDD
+ mechanism. See the full
report.
"Debt-for-Nature"
Swap
A new
agreement between The Nature Conservancy, WWF and the Indonesian and
U.S. governments will allow Indonesia to redirect a portion of its
foreign debt to investing in forest conservation. The $28.5 million "debt-for-nature
swap" through the U.S.
Tropical Forest Conservation Act will support efforts to
conserve forests in East and West Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island
of Borneo.
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| Meetings
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Workshop
on the UN-REDD Social and Environmental Principles and Criteria (SEPC)
on 8-9 February 2012, and one-day discussion on the Free, Prior and
Informed Consent (FPIC) Guidelines on 10 February, Geneva, Switzerland
The objectives of the workshop on 8-9
February are to present and discuss the latest version of the UN-REDD
SEPC, which will have been revised based on the feedback received
during the current public consultation process (open until 20 January).
Similarly, on 10 February, the UN-REDD Programme will present a summary
of comments received on the FPIC Guidelines in order to clarify any
outstanding key issues before finalizing the Guidelines. Feedback on the
SEPC, the BeRT and the
FPIC Guidelines is welcomed.
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| Publications
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"A
framework for integrating biodiversity concerns into national REDD+
programmes"
In an article to be published by
Biological Conservation, an international team of authors proposes an
innovative framework for integrating biodiversity concerns into
national REDD+ programmes. The authors identify how biodiversity
distribution and threat data, together with data on biodiversity
responses to forest change and management, can be readily incorporated
into the strategic planning process for REDD+ in order to identify
priority areas and activities for investment that will deliver returns
for both carbon and biodiversity. They propose that assessments of
changes in biodiversity following REDD+ implementation could be greatly
facilitated by paralleling, where possible, the existing IPCC
architecture for assessing carbon emissions. They suggest a
three-tiered approach for biodiversity assessment, where lower tiers
can provide a realistic starting point for countries with fewer data
and lower technical capacities. See the Full
article
How
can you publish in this Newsletter?
Your
contributions to
this Newsletter on issues related to biodiversity
aspects of REDD-plus are welcome. Please send your submission to
[email protected].
Articles should contain no more than 60 words, and must
contain a hyperlink for more information. Deadline to submit
articles for the next issue: 9 March 2012.
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The
aim of this e-Newsletter
is to inform CBD National Focal Points and CBD partners about
biodiversity aspects in relation to reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation,
sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon
stocks in developing countries (REDD+).
To subscribe, please visit http://www.cbd.int/forest/redd/newsletters/.
This
newsletter is published pursuant to CBD decision IX/5. The views
expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of
the Secretariat of the CBD.
Photo credits (from top to bottom): Ramy
Alaa, World Resources, peacecorpsfriendsdrcongo
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Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
413, Saint Jacques Street, suite 800, Montreal QC H2Y 1N9, Canada. Ph
+1 514 288 2220 |
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