The Frog Blog UK: The blog of the Rainforest Alliance in the UK

Ian Starr, the Technical Specialist for the Climate Program of the Rainforest Alliance reports on latest developments from COP 18 in Doha, Qatar.

The climate team has been busy following key discussion item under negotiation, such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and climate finance.  As the first week of COP 18 (Conference of the Parties) closes I’d like to take a look back on one of the hot topics for conservation organizations:  technical guidance on the implementation of REDD+.

The UNFCCC’s (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Science and Technical advisory body known as SBSTA (The Subsidiary Body for Science and Technological Advice) is currently tasked with the job of constructing the methodological guidance needed to move REDD+ beyond project-scale work, to function on the scale of countries.  There were some thorny and difficult issues for the SBSTA at COP 18 in Doha, which only met during the first week of negotiations.  Read the rest of this entry ?

Jeff Hayward, Director of the Climate Programme at the Rainforest Alliance, responds to the deal achieved at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico.

This is a solid decision and very balanced, even if it doesn’t get as deep into the commitments on emissions cuts or resolve the limbo of the Kyoto Protocol. But as far as REDD goes, we got nearly all that we could have expected. This also does a lot to restore the importance of multi-lateralism and the UN.  But this is only the beginning and now it is time to turn our attention to South Africa and securing a deal that will deliver the real emission reductions needed.

As the Cop16 talks enter their last few hours Jeff Hayward, Director of the Rainforest Alliance’s Climate Programme, writes:

On the last day of the 16^th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, it’s possible that leaders will achieve a compromise and still enable an effective decision on REDD+[1]. Ultimately it comes down to political will, although some unpredictable wildcards – pariahs and spoilers, 11^th hour demands, newly entrenched positions – could still stall decision.

The Rainforest Alliance has seen the draft text, we’ve talked to insiders, and all signs indicate resolvable issues and means to agreement on the few points under heady discussion on REDD+.  Since we last posted about the negotiations, on December 6, an updated text was issued and new text is coming. With the meetings scheduled to end on December 10, ministers are now meeting and advising their country’s highest-level decision-makers about how they should commit on the critical points related to financial support, measurement and reporting, and safeguarding the safeguards (which are fundamental to civil society regarding respect for indigenous peoples’ rights and to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services, although any safeguard text will be stated principles, not operational protocols). Read the rest of this entry ?

By Adam Gibbon

Adam Gibbon, Climate Analyst at the Rainforest Alliance

Recently, I was asked to speak at BusinessGreen.com’s lecture evening on the Cancun Summit. This gave me an opportunity to reflect on the progress made since last year’s disappointment in Copenhagen and then look forward to what is up for discussion in Cancun and ultimately what this could mean for UK business.

REDD did do well in Copenhagen, at least relative to other issues being debated. Copenhagen ended with REDD taking a prominent place in the Copenhagen Accord, where was the only mitigation measure specifically mentioned.

Despite the fact there has not been a global agreement yet under the UNFCCC there are already many REDD projects underway around the world that range in scale from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of hectares. The Rainforest Alliance has been able to validate a number of these to voluntary standards .. These projects operate in what is known as the voluntary market. It is called the voluntary market as the projects are run because people want to run them, and any credits they produce are bought by people who want to buy them, but are not bound by any law or agreement to do so. Read the rest of this entry ?