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The case for climate and forest action
Ambassador Hans Brattskar, Director General for International Climate Policy in the
Department for Climate Change and Pollution Control, Ministry of Environment, Norway
S
ince the thirteenth round of climate change talks were
held in Bali in 2007, the proposal ‘reducing greenhouse
gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in
developing countries’ (termed REDD+ in the UN negotiations)
has gone from laggard to leader. REDD+ is the most important
and cost-effective short- and medium-term climate change miti-
gation opportunity at our disposal. While there is uncertainty
about the precise numbers, it is clear that keeping below the two
degree climate threshold will be impossible without a signifi-
cant reduction in tropical deforestation. By some estimates,
as much as one third of the cost-effective mitigation needed in
2020 could come from REDD+.
Immediate, large-scale and coordinated action on REDD+ will give
us the time we need to develop clean technologies and jobs of the
future. However, REDD+ must be a complement to, rather than a
substitute for, deep cuts in rich countries’ emissions. The global
benefits of REDD+ are enormous in terms of mitigating climate
change and conserving biodiversity on a large scale. However, local
benefits are equally impressive. REDD+ can contribute to sustain-
able economic development and poverty reduction. Standing forests
preserve rainfall patterns and help communities and countries to
adapt to the climate change that will inevitably occur regardless of
our success in reducing global emissions. They also play a vital role
for indigenous peoples.
In sum, these are the reasons why the Government of Norway
made the pledge in Bali 2007 to provide up to US$500 million a
year for REDD+.
As many have pointed out, there are important risks involved with
REDD+ which need to be addressed head on. In order to deliver
lasting results on deforestation, developing countries will have to
improve their forest governance, and radically increased levels of
transparency will be required. Financial mechanisms must be estab-
lished that balance control over development spending priorities
with the application of high international safeguards standards. This
will be challenging, but it can be done.
The economic drivers of deforestation are strong. Global demand
for timber, palm oil, sugar, soy and beef, and the need to feed three
billion more people by 2050 will all continue to put pressure on
forests. A successful reduction of global deforestation rates will
depend on our ability to offer an alternative income stream that
reaches the actors that make decisions on land use.
Significant, lasting, global REDD+ results can best be achieved
through the adoption of a United Nations agreement that puts a
value on forest carbon. We must continue to work towards a global
agreement. At the same time, we can and must act immediately.
Early action will deliver significant short-term emission reductions.
Even more importantly, it will allow us to see what works and what
doesn’t. Luckily, such action is already being taken on
an unprecedented scale.
Since Bali, there has been an intense effort to put in
place an integrated and effective multilateral, institu-
tional architecture to support global REDD+ efforts.
More than 40 countries have been preparing to imple-
ment national REDD+ strategies and some countries
are already scaling up their efforts, through United
Nations- and World Bank-administered initiatives.
The Congo Basin Forest Fund, administered by the
African Development Bank, is meanwhile focusing
on the particular needs of the Congo Basin countries.
The multilateral and bilateral initiatives as well as a
plethora of academic institutions and civil society
organizations are together creating a global commu-
nity to support REDD+ action. We are learning and
sharing valuable lessons every day.
Developing countries taking the lead
Leadership in reducing tropical deforestation belongs
at the highest levels of government. Only through a
holistic national strategy, anchored and implemented
at all levels of government and society, can the powerful
forces of deforestation be addressed and kept in check
over time. Heads of State and government can therefore
play a particularly crucial role. The benefits of such top-
level leadership are particularly evident for three of the
countries that have come furthest in their efforts, and
whose efforts Norway is proud to be supporting.
In Brazil, deforestation in the Amazon has decreased
by more than 60 per cent from the 1996–2005 average,
since former President Lula initiated his government’s
anti-deforestation efforts. The historical correlation
between prices of raw materials and deforestation
appears to some extent to have been broken. In 2008
the Amazon Fund was established as the first prototype
of a large-scale, sectoral payment-for-reduced-emissions
scheme with a view to deepening and sustaining results
in the long term.
Several years ago, President Bharrat Jagdeo of
Guyana proposed a concept for combining ‘pay-for-
performance REDD+’ with a comprehensive strategy for
putting Guyana on the path to sustainable, low-carbon
growth. With Norwegian support, the Guyana REDD+
Investment Fund’s first low-carbon investment projects
will be launched later this year. President Jagdeo’s tire-
less advocacy has been invaluable in creating consensus
on the role of REDD+ in addressing climate change.