Forest Day 4Sunday 5 December, 2010

Cancun, Mexico

Forest Day 4 co-hosts

Forest Day 4

• Theme: “Time to Act”

• 1533 participants by mid pm

...of which 276 UNFCCC Party

delegates

...and 106 members of the

media

• Keynote by the President of

Mexico, Felipe Calderón

• 70 speakers

• Video streaming and blogs in 6

languages

A sense of urgency

� The time to act is now

� Impatience with lack of

agreement on REDD+ five

years after Montreal and four

years after Stern Review

� Many references to extreme

weather events in 2010

� Assertion that the science is

strong, and the “no action”

scenarios are scary

Success is within reach

� President Calderón: “It’s time for all of us to push and push hard for

incorporation of REDD+ into an agreement”

� John Ashton: “REDD+ is an enormous prize within our grasp”

� Tony La Viña: “Exceptionally good dynamics of REDD+ negotiations”

� Rights: Indigenous and community rights must be protected;

rigorously enforced standards could reduce investment risk

� Livelihoods: REDD+ finance must be aligned with poverty reduction

� Biodiversity: REDD+ depends on, and can benefit, biodiversity

� Adaptation: Significant synergies to be captured with mitigation

Synergies and safeguards

5%

31%

65%

Sub-plenary voting results:

How important is it to monitor the co-benefits of

REDD+?

1. Not sufficiently important in relation to the anticipated high transaction costs

2. Somewhat important, but not at the expense of the primary objective of achieving emission reductions

3. Very important, even at the expense of some emission reductions effectiveness

Options and opportunities

� Community management of forests: The Mexican experience

demonstrates the promise of local stewardship of forests

� Restoration of degraded land: Targeting the 1.5 billion hectares of

degraded agricultural and forest land could break the poverty/degradation

cycle

� Improving forest governance: REDD+ creates a demand for good forest

governance that could help address corruption and improve law

enforcement

62%

19%

7%

7%

5%

Sub-plenary voting results:

Should sustainable management and restoration of forest

ecosystems be mainstreamed in the adaptation plans and

policies of other sectors such as agriculture, water and energy?

1. Yes, always

2. Yes, sometimes

3. Don’t know

4. Generally no

5. Never

• Agricultural expansion remains a

major driver of deforestation

• Agricultural intensification does

not necessarily reduce

deforestation, and can accelerate

it

• Landscape-level approaches to

achieve multiple benefits:

• Incentive payments

• Other investments

• Disincentives (command and

control)

Agriculture/forestry links

5%

11%

47%

37%

Sub-plenary voting results:

How should forests be included in a post-Kyoto

climate agreement?

1. RED (deforestation only)

2. REDD (deforestation and degradation only)

3. REDD+ (encompassing conservation, Sustainable Forest Management and carbon stock enhancement)

4. REDD++ (including all terrestrial carbon)

Note: Proportion voting for REDD++ decreased since Forest Day 3