Latest Climate + Forest News [December 16, 2009]

Deal to save forests nearly complete?

Environmentalists say forests and indigenous peoples ‘left vulnerable’ in final text.

From Copenhagen, Nobel prize winner Wangari Maathai shares her views on deforestation.

Latest Climate + Forest News [December 14, 2009]

Lack of money could hurt forest deal.

Gro Harlem Brundtland: “forests and climate issues have never been higher on the political agenda.”

Nature correspondent reflects on Forest Day 3.

Google helps to fight deforestation.

Q&A with Elinor Ostrom.

Act Now if the World’s Forests are to be Saved for Climate Protection, Says Major International Conference

This Year’s Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, with Other Global Leaders Including Bill Clinton, Rajendra Pachauri, Gro Harlem Bruntland, Lord Nicholas Stern, and Wangari Mathaai Joined Activists and Academics to Call for Action on Forests in Copenhagen

Opportunities to Use Forests for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation are Exceptionally Good, but Many Challenges Lie Ahead

In a New Polling System, Participants Identified the Top Two Barriers to Successful REDD+

COPENHAGEN (14 December 2009)—As agreement nears on incorporating forest mitigation into a new climate protection accord, close to 1,500 forestry experts, policymakers and activists gathered in Copenhagen yesterday to urge politicians to make the most of a once in a lifetime opportunity to conserve forests and contribute to climate change mitigation, a policy option usually referred to as REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation).

Benn quotes Darwin

Hilary Benn, CREDIT: Neil Palmer (CIAT)

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin quote, cited by Hilary Benn, UK Minister of Environment

Common ground at COP

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Twahirwa Aimable, Agence Rwandaise d’Information

What Colombia’s doing to protect the forests

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Carolina Diaz Costa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia

Hilary Benn on tackling deforestation at COP15

Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, talks about the importance of tackling deforestation as part of a deal on climate change in Copenhagen.www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk

more about "Hilary Benn on tackling deforestation…", posted with vodpod

Googling the rainforest

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Matt Hawcher, Google

Halting deforestation now: a shared global responsibility

Hilary Benn, CREDIT: Neil Palmer (CIAT)

Climate change has made it unmistakably clear that the consequences of deforestation are a truly global problem. That’s why halting deforestation to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions must be a shared global responsibility. Exactly how the responsibilities must be shared was the subject of an afternoon plenary session at Forest Day 3, taking place in conjunction with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Sir Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics, who authored the influential Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, examined the question from an economic perspective, emphasizing the relatively low cost of reducing deforestation in comparison with the huge benefits that would result from determined global action.

Responsibility for designing appropriate policies must reside with the “countries where the trees stand,” Stern said, because they have the best understanding of the conditions required for success. Yet, responsibility for paying the costs of deforestation must be shared globally, and this effort must be part of a larger development strategy that reduces rural poverty. Stern went on to discuss options for financing efforts to halt deforestation, calling on governments to come up with serious financial packages that include new sources of public funds, including debt instruments.

Hilary Benn, the UK’s Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, reinforced this message about shared responsibilities, citing important examples of commitment and leadership, such as Wangari Maathai’s establishment of the Green Belt Movement, which earned her the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize; UK prime minister Gordon Brown’s recent “game-changing” proposal on “fast-start financing;” and the bold efforts of Eduardo Braga, president of Brazil’s Amazonas State, to drastically reduce deforestation.

Benn urged governments and climate negotiators to turn the consensus on forests and climate change into a final climate agreement, which he said is the most important thing that can be done now to preserve our natural world. Citing Charles Darwin’s observation that surviving species are not necessarily the strongest or most intelligent but those able to adapt, Benn stressed that the time is now to secure the future of our children and grandchildren.

What’s gender got to do with it?

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Lucy Wanjiru, Global Gender & Climate Alliance (Kenya)