The UN-REDD Programme team (Estelle Fach and I, Yemi Katerere) joined the Climate Express train in Hamburg on Saturday for a ride that brought us to Copenhagen that same night.

The UN-REDD Programme event was exactly one hour after boarding. It was well attended mainly by NGOs, activists and journalists. As expected, the main interest was not on UN-REDD but REDD more generally. There were lots of questions on illegal logging and funding.

The skeptics still feel that REDD is just a way for developed countries to avoid reducing their emissions. The point I made is that we are essentially in the same storm albeit in different boats: the effects of climate change will be felt by all but the impacts will vary from country to country. REDD also offers the greatest potential for emissions reduction in the short-term at at reasonable costs. The longer we wait, the fewer options we have and the greater the mitigation costs.

We also showed the video “REDD as part of the Solution” at the end of the presentation. Have look at it online!

And see the slideshow produced by treehugger.com with photos from the ride.