ClearSky Climate Solutions, CEO, Keegan Eisenstadt was on the ground in Durban for the UNFCCC 17th Conference of the Parties. He was present for what was an incredibly busy couple of weeks. Participating in a schedule filled with formal negotiations, technical side events, meetings with government actors, NGOs and civil society organizations from around the world. Keegan had numerous educational discussions with other participants and left with many ideas of how ClearSky can more thoroughly participate in the climate change sector.

While the formal outcomes of the meeting are something of a mixed bag, the result was not as bad as projected in the run up to the COP17. EU leadership, and a determination by all the major Parties to build upon the successes of Cancun, led to a result that may act as the foundation for future progress on mitigation and adaptation. The 194 countries in the convention agreed to be legally bound, in an agreement to be signed no later than 2015, to cut their emissions of seven greenhouse gases starting no later than 2020. This outcome is very important, as it has removed the fault line separating the developing/developed countries that has hampered years of talks by bringing countries such as China and India under a mandatory reductions framework. This has effectively removed the key barrier that has kept the US from the negotiating table, and its importance cannot be underestimated. ‘The Durban Platform’ is an important step on the way, but not a destination. Its importance is in the clear signal it sends that regulatory clarity on future carbon markets are expected by the end of 2015.

Implications for Forests and REDD+
Two sets of negotiations were held in Durban with regard to REDD+: (1) a technical discussion, (under the auspices of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, SBSTA), which focused on safeguards and reference levels and (2) a broader discussion regarding the overall architecture of the agreement (Ad Hoc Working Group for Long-term Cooperative Action, LCA ¶63-73), which revolved around the private sector and market mechanisms, and whether these would have a role to play in financing REDD+. Key advancements were made in both areas that were stronger than most observers expected, and which served to reinforce the community-oriented approach at ClearSky.

The key element of the REDD+ decision in Durban was on sources and delivery of finance. The Durban Platform is the first time that 194 countries have agreed, despite ideological differences, to include explicit mention of market-based approaches to funding REDD+. The decision confirms that private sector has a role to play, and considers that market-based approaches can be developed, subject to maintaining environmental integrity, to deliver performance-based funding to REDD+ activities. The decision encourages financing from private sector actors to overcome a large funding gap in public resources to achieve the required reductions in deforestation. Importantly, the positive signal that markets can play a driving role in REDD+, opens further opportunity for work on REDD+ projects like the work it is currently developing in the tropics.

A second, important REDD+ discussion in Durban looked at the issue of incorporating effective social, environmental and governance safeguards for local communities and biodiversity. Significant progress was made on defining the criteria, monitoring systems and types of information that must be conveyed in reports on safeguard implementation and delivery for projects in all countries. Discussions focused on the frequency of safeguard monitoring/reporting and the types of information that needed to be monitored. The monitoring and reporting of safeguards is vitally important to ClearSky, because it allows us to see if national level REDD+ programs are being implemented with the Free Prior Informed Consent of indigenous peoples and local communities, and ensure that their rights are being respected. There had been strong push back against reporting of safeguards from some forest countries on sovereignty grounds – but the agreement to include a robust safeguards decision won the day.

The consistent message from donor countries, NGOs and the private sector is that only through the rigorous application and accurate reporting on safeguards can stakeholders ensure that positive and equitable REDD+ outcomes are achieved. Durban produced a strong and detailed framework to deliver this. Some observers, including Pact, lamented the fact that the explicit guidelines on the content of safeguard monitoring were not decided upon, and were left to be defined at a later time.

The final main negotiating point regarding REDD+ at Durban related to reference levels for forest carbon. It was agreed that the formation of applicable reference levels can be stepwise and iterative, and the decision acknowledges that subnational forest reference emission levels and/or forest reference levels may be used as an interim measure on the way to a national accounting framework, ensuring the viability of the ‘nested approach’ – which potentially incorporates previous ‘project based’ actions.

Considering the persistent global economic situation, Durban was a much better outcome than most observers expected. It was a surprising ‘shot in the arm’ for carbon markets as a tool, and sets the stage for aggregating all the emissions from 194 countries into the UNFCCC process over the next 8 years. REDD+, as in the past 3 years, was a big winner. This time, however, the Parties were able to rise above previously entrenched positions to set the stage for the creation of innovative and transformative financing solutions that make forests worth more standing than cut. The extensive discussions on safeguards were a vindication of the role of communities, forest dependent and indigenous peoples in ensuring the sustainability of a future REDD+ mechanisms – whether it is project-based, sub-national or national……it is the people living in the woods who will determine their future.

ClearSky Climate Solution’s CEO, Keegan Eisenstadt, recently visited Kenya .  We would like to share a few photos from his trip.

This sign greets everyone at the main gate to the Kenya Forest Service office in Nairobi. It is accompanied by an anonymous ‘suggestion box’ where anyone can describe incidents of corruption or impropriety and they are expected to get attention. A sign may not change a culture, but it is at least a beginning!

Adult Masai Giraffe with the Nairobi city skyline in the background. It was one of a herd of 18 giraffes – the biggest herd of giraffes Keegan had ever seen. He could hear them chewing!

Nature’s confusing camouflage, where does one zebra end and the other start?

Wetland area in Nairobi National Park. This area is frequented by hippo and is less than 1000 meters from an apartment complex.

A very shy black Rhino! Keegan saw him from about 400 meters. The second he stopped to look, this rhino went for the cover of nearby bushes and did not come out again.

ClearSky Climate Solution’s CEO, Keegan Eisenstadt, recently visited Madagascar.  We would like to share a few photos from his trip.

Dancing Sifaka Lemurs at a lemur sanctuary near Antananarivo, Madagascar. They bound about with an energy and precision that is astounding and inspiring!

First stages of mining activity in Madagascar. Forests are cleared for access to subsurface minerals. Trees are hand-felled at a slow daily rate to encourage biodiversity to relocate. Wood is then given to the communities that control the area. It is a gentle approach, but the outcome is still a destroyed forest.

Uneven aged, native species restoration trials in the highlands of Central Madagascar. Looking to rehabilitate a large deforestation event has led to field trials of various tree and grass species, as well as ‘foster ecosystem habitats’ for amphibians and reptiles. The lava rock pile is home to hand-transplanted reptiles and native epiphytes.

Village in the central highlands of Madagascar, as seen from the foundations of their new forest tree nursery. The community is part of a stakeholder engagement activity that could play a role in REDD+.

Dec. 9^th, 2010

As the Cancun Climate Meetings enter the final stretch there is cause to be cautiously optimistic.  There appears to be relative progress on a number of issues: REDD+, Adaptation, Technology Transfer, Capacity Building and parts of the Financing.  The newly proposed Adaptation financing mechanism is not defined at all, and issues relating to Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) remain very contentious.  Overall, the question of having a market mechanism that uses offsets from developing countries is agreed upon, with significant exceptions from a few countries.

When I ask delegates “what looks good?”, they unanimously answer REDD+ seems to be looking good!  That is Great News!  But it is also a result of the significant work done to get agreement on REDD+ prior to everyone arriving in Cancun.  That said, Bolivia and a few other countries are very opposed to a market mechanism for REDD+, and may have some influence on the final nature of the agreement and the language of the agreement. 

I attended a high profile session last night where the message of REDD+ as a mainstream idea was evident.  The event, put on by the Avoided Deforestation Partners, included Presidents and Prime Ministers of some countries, as well as Presidents and CEOs of the World Bank, big conservation organizations and Wal- Mart.  The idea that REDD+ would be promoted publicly by the president of the World Bank, The President of Wal Mart and Jane Goodall is a snapshot of the broad consensus forming around REDD+ at this meeting, and globally.  There were times I felt the assembled community of REDD+ supporters was surreal, it did drive home the point that there is broad support for REDD+ because it has the potential to be so good for so many constituencies in the world. 

Keegan