The UN-REDD Programme Dec 2011/Jan 2012 newsletter is now out!

Happy New Year! In this month’s issue of the UN-REDD Programme newsletter, read more on the DRC’s new national forest monitoring system launched at COP17, as well as updates on Mongolia’s REDD+ roadmap and details on three new publications the Programme recently released on: 1) Gender and REDD+; 2) Lessons Learned from Asia-Pacific partner countries; and 3) a new policy brief on REDD+ and the Green Economy.

Let us know what you think about anything you see in this month’s newsletter on this blog or on the UN-REDD Programme Facebook page.

Have your say! Last week of public consultations for two UN-REDD Programme draft guidelines

This is the last week to comment on the UN-REDD Programme’s Draft Social and Environmental Principles and Criteria Benefits and Risk Tool, as well as the Programme’s Draft guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

Both tools/guidelines have been open for public consultations since 15 December 2011. The Programme is reaching out to receive as much feedback as possible before finalizing both. All inputs are welcome!

Check out UNDP’s new PSA “What is the sound of a tree NOT falling”

Watch the new public service announcement video here: : http://asia-pacific.undp.org/video/psa_sustainable_forests.html

New UNEP iPhone App highlights the UN-REDD Programme

The free UNEP application draws attention to the critical role played by ecosystems such as saltmarshes, mangroves, tropical forests and seagrasses in tackling climate change.

Read more here: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=2661&ArticleID=8982&l=en&t=long

New DRC National Forest Monitoring System for REDD+ launched at COP17 in Durban

The DRC officially launched its National Forest Monitoring System at a COP17 side event on 2 December, 2011, demonstrating live how it works and inviting users to go online at http://unredd.geo-solutions.it to use the tool and provide feedback.

A large crowd attended the side event and provided useful insights on the tool including representatives from Greenpeace, WWF and the European Union who praised the DRC’s effort and recognized the enormous contribution this system is making to the forest monitoring and MRV arena. The online system will allow anybody in the world to check an area of deforestation online in their region of interest and report whether or not the communicated deforestation areas and statistics are correct.

This National Forest Monitoring system, inspired by the Brazilian forest monitoring system TerraAmazon, but first in its kind, will allow the DRC to monitor the performance s from REDD+ demonstration activities and initiatives, deforestation in protected areas and logging concessions, as well as national policies and measures in the forestry sector. To do so, the system is integrating the information coming from the National REDD+ Registry into a single visualisation interface thus promoting transparency and coordination between the various initiatives underway on the ground.  The system was designed in a way that can also be used for other monitoring purposes as well as to report on other unrelated carbon assessment such as forest law enforcement.

 The TerraCongo platform which provides the deforestation statistics to the online National Forest Monitoring System, is following the footsteps of the TerraAmazon platform developed by the Brazilian National Space Agency (INPE) providing a combination of open-source data, tools and algorithms that were adjusted to the country’s needs. It combines GIS, image processing, database management and data access functionalities. In both systems the information results can be easily verified through an online system.

Extensive onsite training at INPE’s training centre CRA in Belém, Brazil and at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy has been ongoing throughout for 2011. The development of the web-based platform was carried out by FAO as part of its work in Monitoring, Measurement, Reporting and Verification within the UN-REDD Programme in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment, Conservation of Nature and Tourism.

For more information on the DRC Forest Monitoring System, please find more info in information note.

Please take 5 minutes to interact with the system and provide the DRC with feedback on the system by participating in the short survey.

Contact persons:

DRC REDD+ Focal Point: Vincent Kasulu: kaseyamak@yahoo.fr

Coordinator of the DRC National REDD+ Coordination, Kanu Mbizi: kanumbizi@yahoo.fr

DRC National REDD+ Coordination Technical Advisor, Bruno Guay: Bruno.Guay@undp.org

FAO HQ DRC focal point: Danae Maniatis: danae.maniatis@fao.org  

FAO HQ Coordinator of National Forest Monitoring Systems Development: Inge Jonckheere: inge.jonckheere@fao.org

UN-REDD Supports Joint Declaration of Intent for REDD+ in the Congo Basin at COP17

The UN-REDD Programme is pleased to share the following press release in support of the Joint Declaration of Intent for REDD+ in the Congo Basin made today (7 December) at COP17 in Durban, South Africa.

Read the press release in English and French.

Download the Joint Declaration in English and French.

Here’s a brief summary of the Declaration:

The UN-REDD Programme was co-host of the process and, together with UNDP, played a crucial role in the negotiations and adoption of this Joint Declaration, that was agreed between 15 Central African and donor countries, and publicly announced on 7 December 2011 by several ministers and ambassadors. 

The endorsing parties are as follows: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, as members of Central Africa, and Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom, United States of America and the European Commission, on the side of donor partners.

This Joint Declaration represents a political gateway to scale up financial and technical support for REDD+ in the Congo basin, which hosts the second largest tract of tropical forest in the world – forests that extend over many countries and provide home and livelihoods for more than 50 million people. The objectives are “to stimulate progress on REDD+ activities in the Congo Basin,” and “to support the development and implementation of national REDD+ strategies,” uniting parties for an “ambitious, pragmatic and close cooperation through political support and increased mobilization of financial and technical resources.”

More specifically, Central African countries assume the need to, “develop policies, strategies and programs for sustainable development (green economy) that include ‘low-carbon’ development approaches for all key sectors including forests, agriculture, energy, mining and transportation,” including “REDD+ strategies that address the main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation,” and to “strengthen forest governance“, incluing “adherence to applicable international fiduciary, social and environmental standards,” and to “pursue land use planning and zoning processes that are participatory and holistic.“

On their side, partner countries commit to “increasing and scaling up the total overall level of technical and financial support available for the development and implementation of the REDD+ strategies of Central African countries,” and to remain reliable partners for the countries of the Congo basin in their REDD+ efforts.

Finally, all endorsing countries stated as follows: “We intend to follow-up on this Joint Declaration starting in early 2012 in order to convert our intentions into actions that will advance REDD+ in the Congo Basin either through bilateral and/or multilateral cooperation.”

New VIDEO from COP17: Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai Honoured at Forest Day 5

To commemorate and honour the life and work of Professor Wangari Maathai, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) opened Forest Day 5 at COP17 with a short tribute video about the Nobel Prize Laureate.

Watch the Wangari Maathai tribute video on the homepage of www.un-redd.org.

The video features interviews with such prominent world leaders as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Greenpeace’s Kumi Naidoo, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (President of Liberia) and Mary Robinson (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights).

Read more information on Professor Maathai at www.greenbeltmovement.org.

UN-REDD Invites Comments on its Draft Social and Environmental Principles and Criteria, Benefits and Risks Tool

The UN-REDD Programme now invite comments on the first draft of its Social and Environmental Principles and Criteria (SEPC)- Benefit and Risks Tool (BeRT). Feedback on the BeRT will be welcome until 20 January 2012. 

Read more on the UN-REDD Programme website

UN-REDD Participates in Substantive Forest Day 5 Discussion Forum on REDD+ Safeguards in Durban

The event entitled, “Social safeguards: Protecting the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities in REDD+” was held during Forest Day 5 (FD5), on 4 December 2011 to coincide with the UNFCCC’s COP17 in Durban, South Africa.

 The Discussion Forum looked at past experiences regarding the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in forest management as well as ongoing developments and different approaches to REDD+ safeguards with a focus on lessons learned and the challenges ahead.

The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP/UN-REDD) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) co-organized the forum.

Key Messages that emerged from the FD5 Discussion Forum on REDD+ Safeguards included: 

• Traditional knowledge, governance and institutions provide a solid basis for sustainable forest management.  These traditional practices should be the starting point for the design and implementation of REDD+ strategies.
• UNFCCC agreements on REDD+ safeguards are important and necessary but not sufficient – we still need to invest in building capacities to implement the safeguards.  
• There are an emerging set of tools and methodologies, developed for example by the REDD+ SES initiative, FCPF and the UN-REDD Programme, that could help countries to do this. 
• REDD+ initiatives will require clear and secure land and forest rights for indigenous peoples and local communities. 
• Sustained political will at the national level is fundamental to the full and effective implementation of REDD+ safeguards. 
• The big opportunity now with REDD+ is to have safeguards that not only do no harm but also ensure positive social and environmental impacts. 
• Flow of information is really important – but not just top down. Leaders in government need to be able to listen and learn from communities. 
• There is a need to build the capacities of governments to better understand and implement REDD+ safeguards.  A key role of multi-lateral initiatives like the UN-REDD Programme is to build capacity of governments to do this, including helping countries implement their international obligations at national and local level, including for example, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as noted in the Cancun Agreements.
• At the same time, there is also a need to build capacities at the local government and local community level about climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation, REDD+ and related safeguards. 
• One of the greatest challenges facing the effective implementation of REDD+ safeguards is how to set up a robust monitoring and reporting system – information systems.

The following REDD+ experts participated in the Forest Day 5 Discussion Forum on REDD+ Safeguards: 

Moderators

• Alexander Buck, Executive Director, International Union of Forest Research Organizations
• Charles McNeill, Senior Policy Advisor, UN Development Programme

 Keynote addresses

• John Parrotta, IUFRO Task Force Coordinator and US Forest Service
• Joanna Durbin, Director, Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance

 Panellists

• Carola Borja, Director of Mitigation, Ministry of Environment, Government of Ecuador
• Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education (Tebtebba), Philippines
• Juan Carlos Jintiach, Coordinator of the Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), Ecuador
• Roger Muchuba, Environement Resources Naturelles et Developpement Institute (ERND Institute), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
• Kanyinke Sena, Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC), Kenya

If you want to read more about this topic, here’s a list of suggested background reading

• Draft Framework for Sharing Approaches for Better Multi-Stakeholder Participation Practices
• REDD+ Benefit Sharing: A Comparative Assessment of Three National Policy Approaches
• IUFRO Traditional Knowledge Reports
• Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change / REDD: An Overview of Current Discussions and Main Issues
• Rights to forests and carbon under REDD+ initiatives in Latin America
• Forest tenure reform in the age of climate change: Lessons for REDD+

UN-REDD Guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) are open for public review

We are happy to announce that the draft UN-REDD Programme Guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) are open for public review and that we welcome your comments until 15 January 2012. 

Read more Français/ Español

The aim of the Guidelines is to outline a normative, policy and operational framework for UN-REDD Programme partner countries to seek FPIC, as and when appropriate, as determined by the Programme partner country in consultation with relevant rights-holders. The Guidelines also provide clear definitions of the underlying elements of FPIC, information on grievance and accountability, and useful annexes elaborating important concepts and presenting useful tools and resources.

The Guidelines were developed through a consultative process with indigenous peoples and civil society representatives via a series of regional consultations held between June 2010 and January 2011 in the 3 regions where the UN-REDD Programme is active: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. During these consultations, participants developed definitions and processes to operationalize FPIC for the UN-REDD Programme. For more information you may access the reports for these consultations here.

Please also visit the Stakeholder Engagement web page for more background information here.

 Please direct all comments to jennifer.laughlin@undp.org and gayathri.sriskanthan@undpaffiliates.org by 15 January 2012