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Forestry & Development E-News: June 2010 |
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Forestry & Development (F&D) is an online resource on sustainable forestry. It supports
commercial forestry as a viable source of economic growth which is compatible
with sustainability. |
ContentsSomare: UN, World Bank "tangle us
in endless process" Papua New
Guinea's Prime Minister Michael Somare has put a question mark over
unilateral forest and climate deals at the recent 'REDD+ Partnership' meeting
in Oslo, Norway. PNG in Bonn: most emissions outside forest sector At the most recent UNFCCC negotiations in Bonn, Papua New
Guinea stated that most forest-based emissions come from outside of the
forest sector. Review of AUSAID funding for PNG Australian media have again focused their attention on AusAID spending in the Pacific region. Canadian foresters and NGOs broker deal, Greenpeace divided Forestry companies and environmental groups have reached
an agreement on the conservation of the Boreal Forest in North Canada. Christiana Figueres to replace de Boer at UNFCCC Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
recently appointed Christiana Figueres as the new UN climate chief, replacing
Yvo de Boer as executive secretary of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. |
Somare: UN, World Bank "tangle us in endless process"Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Michael Somare has put a question mark over unilateral forest and climate deals at the recent 'REDD+ Partnership' meeting in Oslo, Norway. In an address to conference delegates, Mr Somare said that "the international mechanisms to deal with REDD+ have largely failed: meeting after meeting, promise after promise, but nothing tangible delivered in our countries. The World Bank and the United Nations tangle us in endless process and conditionality." Mr Somare went on to say that an interim REDD+ mechanism "must break from the past and deliver both finance and results." While Prime Minister Somare's comments are pertinent, they do raise significant questions about the long-terms prospects of any REDD or REDD+ programme. Last year's UNFCCC climate negotiations in Copenhagen saw developing countries effectively refusing to sign up to developed country demands. Calls by some EU member states to effectively dismantle the Kyoto Protocol under which only developed countries are required to make binding emissions targets were met with very stiff resistance. New REDD or REDD+ deals under bilateral arrangements might effectively circumvent the need for international consensus or the 'tangled process' to which Somare refers. Even then, there is still a considerable gulf to be crossed. In the lead-up to the conference, a group of governments, including Australia, undertook a 'REDD+ Financing and Activities Survey'. Developing countries were asked for an estimate of the financing they would require to make REDD+ viable in their countries. Total requests for the period between 2010 and 2012 were in excess of US$5 billion. Yet total commitments made under both bilateral and unilateral processes for the period are less the US$2 billion. Even then, there is little guarantee that these funds will be mobilised. Papua New Guinea stated that it would require more than US$185 million annually from 2011 to 2030 for payments for emissions reductions. The question, then, is where precisely those emissions reductions are going to come from. What Papua New Guinea needs, but currently does not have, is an economy-wide assessment of emissions, which means that defining sources of emissions cuts will be difficult at best. Complicating matters further will be the increase in emissions from large-scale resource projects such as the Exxon LNG project. The forest sector can be ruled out it is well established by the FAO that more than 70 per cent of PNG's roundwood removal is undertaken for fuelwood. This was underlined in recent statements by PNG at the latest UNFCCC climate negotiations in Germany. |
PNG in Bonn: most emissions outside forest sectorAt the most recent UNFCCC negotiations in Bonn, Papua New Guinea stated that most forest-based emissions come from outside of the forest sector. This finally puts PNG in line with forest research bodies such as CIFOR and the FAO, which have long stated that drivers of deforestation and therefore emissions come from outside of the forest sector. Papua New Guinea was particularly active at a negotiating session that showed little progress from the over-hyped Copenhagen meeting in December. PNG's climate envoy Kevin Conrad led the charge against apparent double-standards from developed countries on deforestation. According to news reports, developed countries are proposing that they set projected baselines for land-use change or deforestation, then base emissions reporting upon how they have deviated from the projections which would be self-reported. This contrasts starkly with the demand from developed countries at Copenhagen that any reported emissions reductions in developing countries be measurable, reportable and verifiable. Demands from the US on China even went so far as to call for the deployment of independent auditing teams. It also contrasts with how developed countries report their emissions from all other sectors, i.e. based on systematic observation. |
Review of AUSAID funding for PNGAustralian media have again focused their attention on AusAID spending in the Pacific region. According to a number of media sources, Australian Government aid programmes are offering exorbitant salary packages to a number of advisors. According to one report, over a dozen aid consultants are earning more than the Australian Prime Minister. The same report purports that five firms led by Coffey, GRM and Cardno ACIL secured $1 billion in AusAID contracts. The media reports coincide with the release of an Australian Government review on aid spending. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith released the completed Review of the AUS-PNG Development Cooperation Treaty after Prime Ministers Rudd and Somare agreed to review aid spending in April 2009. The review confirms AusAID's "heavy reliance" on technical assistance, and questions the effectiveness of the 'capacity building through advisors' model. The review emphatically asserts that continuing with the "status quo is not an option". PNG Foreign Minister Sam Abal called for a further review of AusAID funding before the release of the report. He reportedly raised concerns about the effectiveness of AusAID spending and intends raising the matter with Australian officials later this year. Helen Hughes, a well-respected Australian aid specialist, was particularly scathing of the impact of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in PNG and the lack of economic development that has followed since their implementation a decade ago. Hughes called on delegates to a MDGs conference in Sydney to ask the question: "Why is it that after a decade of implementation of the Millennium Goals, backed by billions of taxpayers' dollars, women in PNG villages choose to breastfeed piglets because pigs are more valuable than children?" |
Canadian foresters and NGOs broker deal, Greenpeace dividedForestry companies and environmental groups have reached an agreement on the conservation of the Boreal Forest in North Canada. The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement involves 21 member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and nine environmental organisations, among them Greenpeace, the David Suzuki Foundation and Pew Environment Group's related conservation campaign. The Agreement calls for a three-year suspension of logging on 75 million acres of land while a permanent conservation plan is developed. Environmental groups have promised to call off boycotts and campaigns whilst the conservation plan is developed. Yet a recording of a leaked conference call among Greenpeace Canada staffers indicates that the NGO is divided over the deal. Some staff members expressed dismay over the publicity given to the agreement, while others defended the move, describing it as strategic. One Greenpeace executive said the NGO made the deal "possibly more important than it actually is with the idea of making it harder when the work commences for the forest companies to withdraw". Similar developments may be happening in Australia. Media reports confirm that the Tasmanian timber industry will enter formal negotiations with Green groups in an attempt reach a solution to long-running disputes about logging in the state. The negotiations, expected to be assisted by a government-appointed and -funded mediator, are expected to involve stakeholders such as the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania, the Forest Contractors Association, the CFMEU forestry union, Environment Tasmania, The Wilderness Society and WWF. As in the case of the Boreal Forest, it is widely expected that any agreement would involve the industry accepting further forest reserves and an accelerated move from native forests to plantations. In return for its concessions, industry may receive a "social licence", restructuring support and lasting resource security. |
Christiana Figueres to replace de
Boer at UNFCCC
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently appointed Christiana Figueres as the new UN climate chief, replacing Yvo de Boer as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. De Boer's departure follows a largely unproductive climate summit in Copenhagen that ended with a non-binding accord promising emissions cuts and immediate financing for poor countries. Figueres is no stranger to climate change negotiations. From 1995 to 2003, she was the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas (CSDA). The non-profit think tank for climate change policy and capacity-building was established with the mission to "promote innovative financing mechanisms which support sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean". Figueres has been also a member of Costa Rica's negotiating team on climate change since 1995, and helped facilitate Costa Rica's emergence as one of the leading international actors amongst developing countries. During this time, Costa Rica made a high-profile pledge to become one of the world's first carbon-neutral economies by 2021 and acted as a vocal campaigner for reforms to forestry protection. Her placement may be seen as part of a UN effort to consolidate the split between developed and developing nations in climate change negotiations. After divisions were so clearly evident at Copenhagen, Figueres will face a daunting task rebuilding relationships ahead of this year's UN climate summit in Cancun, Mexico. |
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