Development pressure in the forested northwest of Argentina, primarily for soybean cultivation and cattle grazing, is on the rise.  Meanwhile, planning efforts to promote more sustainable land use practices appear stagnated by conflicting government policies and the apparent inability of local government to control illegal land clearing.  My colleagues, Argentine conservationists who deal with the challenge of balancing development and conservation demands, are working feverishly to stall a troubling development trajectory, as they witness new and large land clearings appearing in the aerial imagery they review each year.  There simply aren’t enough people on the ground with experience, time, and materials to keep pace with the agricultural industry’s expanding infrastructure and development plans.

My work is intended to complement the existing efforts of conservation scientists I have partnered with from the non-profit, Fundación CEBio (Foundation for the Study and Conservation of Biodiversity).  They have been working in a landscape linkage that connects the subtropical Yungas and Chaco forests, conducting research, and promoting education in local communities, in support of sustainable development and forest conservation.  My particular focus in this upcoming grant work will be engaging private landowners of large-scale cultivation operations in conservation action.  I believe there has been very little engagement that has occurred to date with this robust and powerful landholding group.  The land rights of all, even those who do not hold formal title, is important in my work.  However, to move beyond traditional governmental (top-down) approaches, we will need the support of large producers at the table to make rubber hit the road.

After having the privilege of working for ClearSky Climate Solutions for the past 8 months on REDD project development, I believe I see a viable pathway that may offer financial incentives appropriate for this case in Argentina.  Forest-based carbon offsets produced within the voluntary carbon credit market may provide sufficient financing to secure voluntary land conservation agreements in strategic locations within the forested corridor that links the Yungas and Chaco forests.  I seek to interconnect protected parks and reserves with private lands in this zone.  The bulk of my work to come will be observing the needs, ideas, and preferences of large landholding producers of this region, and commence socialization of forest conservation pathways (whether it be REDD and/or some other conservation tools).  It is my hope that in this process I will identify critical leverage points that may bring conservation and development into a better state of balance than it is today.  Let’s hope.

For now, I’m elated to return to a beautiful and fantastic country known for its vast open spaces and incredible landscapes, diverse array of flora and fauna, to-die-for beef, savory empanadas, fine wines, and great people.

And so it begins…

Lorie Baker

Is there time for such delay?

• For better, developed and developing nations will take part in the post-2020 treaty.
• For worse, Kyoto will be extended, but its true future won’t be determined for a while (a new treaty is scheduled to be developed in 2015 with an implementation date of 2020).

• For better, the U.S. says it’s committed to a post-2020 treaty.
• For worse, time will tell to see what ‘commitment’ means to post-2020 political leadership.

• For better, voluntary REDD projects continue to spark international interest and investment. Market actors are continuing to improve procedures to ensure environmental and social safeguards are in place to protect the livelihoods of affected communities located in areas of conservation action.
• For worse, the carbon market has seen little positive impact from the Durban meetings.

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.

There has never been a need for more urgency to address the challenges of climate change. All of the evidence that has come out of recent research demonstrates that, if anything, we underestimated the speed with which climate change would impact our ecosystems – and our lives. Better science, it seems, does not lead to better decision making. The diplomatic efforts proceed unchanged by new information – grinding along the same fault lines that have challenged the UNFCCC from the beginning. I believe it is time to ACT.

There has been a lot of progress in the last year in the voluntary carbon marketplace, along with significant technical, financial, and policy advances. Most of these come from trying to achieve something…..sometimes flawed, and certainly small in scope – but with the intent of gaining experience that can lead to better ideas and implementation in the future. The perfect should not be the enemy of the good. At this juncture, one year form the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio, when we first started addressing this challenge through the UN process…..I find myself with mixed feelings. I feel great concern that we have been so self absorbed – such that we are being very slow to respond to a challenge that is so clearly urgent. This preoccupation is tempered by the fact that I begin to see motion in the sector of forestry and climate change. there is almost something of a critical mass -I can almost see it on the horizon, not quite, but close….there is something happening. I sincerely hope it catches and grows!

Keegan Eisenstadt

The course was attended by individuals working within academia, environmental consulting, energy industry, conservation, and international development.  Participants thought, “It was a very good introductory course, it was well worthy my time and fun!” and, “It was one of the best trainings I’ve been to!”

I’m still in Cancun and feeling very inspired by the action from 3:30AM this morning. Quite honestly, this is a truly impressive feat of diplomacy by the Mexicans. This is a big win for REDD, CCS, and a new Green Fund (World Bank is interim trustee). All major players are happy (with the exception of a small block headed by Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela).

Specific elements of the Cancún Agreements include:

• Industrialized country targets are officially recognized under the multilateral process and these countries are to develop low-carbon development plans and strategies and assess how best to meet them, including through market mechanisms, and to report their inventories annually.
• Developing country actions to reduce emissions are officially recognized under the multilateral process. A registry is to be set up to record and match developing country mitigation actions to finance and technology support from by industrialized countries. Developing countries are to publish progress reports every two years.
• Parties meeting under the Kyoto Protocol agree to continue negotiations with the aim of completing their work and ensuring there is no gap between the first and second commitment periods of the treaty.
• The Kyoto Protocols Clean Development Mechanisms has been strengthened to drive more major investments and technology into environmentally sound and sustainable emission reduction projects in the developing world.
• Parties launched a set of initiatives and institutions to protect the vulnerable from climate change and to deploy the money and technology that developing countries need to plan and build their own sustainable futures.
• A total of $30 billion in fast start finance from industrialized countries to support climate action in the developing world up to 2012 and the intention to raise $100 billion in long-term funds by 2020 are included in the decisions.
• In the field of climate finance, a process to design a Green Climate Fund under the Conference of the Parties, with a board with equal representation from developed and developing countries, is established.
• A new Cancun Adaptation Framework is established to allow better planning and implementation of adaptation projects in developing countries through increased financial and technical support, including a clear process for continuing work on loss and damage.
• Governments agree to boost action to curb emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries with technological and financial support.
• Parties have established a technology mechanism with a Technology Executive Committee and Climate Technology Centre and Network to increase technology cooperation to support action on adaptation and mitigation.

With renewed hope I begin to think that we are moving slowly forward.  The T-shirt from the youth delegation of the Solomon Islands claiming “You have been negotiating about this for longer than I have been alive.  You can’t tell me you need more time.” Somehow seems less of an indictment this morning.  Let’s see where we go from here.

Excited and hopeful,

Keegan