It is surreal for me to now be sitting in Miami International airport awaiting my flight to the Salta Province of Argentina.  Quite a few years of diligence, patience, and taking chances have led me to this day, where I’m about to commence a 9-month Fulbright-Hays research grant to work on forest conservation in northwestern Argentina’s deforestation frontier.  Almost 2 years ago, I was working in this region to carry out my master’s research studying wildlife conservation and landscape connectivity.  But I never foresaw that I would receive funding to return and continue to pursue conservation work there again!  Indeed, this is a unique opportunity for me to follow through on my objective to support on-the-ground conservation in a region of the world that desperately needs this support.

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

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+.

Hello ClearSky friends and climate change concerned citizens,

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

The heavy interest in REDD+ projects is palpable here in Cancun.  What is not so evident is that the compliance markets are going to be ready to move the REDD+ agenda forward.  Even if an agreement comes out of this COP, it will effectively be authorizing the technical working groups to begin work on the REDD+ protocols and methodologies for national level REDD.  I repeat, to BEGIN work.  That leaves the non-UN markets to lead the way and pioneer the path forward for REDD+.

Timed to coincide with the COP meetings, the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), has approved two distinct methodologies for use in the market, and the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) of California has formally begun the process to include REDD+ from the States of Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico.  So the voluntary carbon market is releasing REDD+ project methodologies for use around the world, and CAR is beginning to formally push sub-national action for the California compliance cap and trade market.  The development of these two tracks is vitally important for REDD+.  It formally opens a path to market for actions that have been contemplated, or are currently being worked on, in the field to access the market, NOW.  It also demonstrates the interest of the marketplace for REDD+ credits – and that the world has moved on.

There is a bit of a feeling like the UN process is already behind the Voluntary Market and the regional compliance carbon markets with respect to REDD+.  This may not be true forever, but there is certainly a window for the next few years when the voluntary market and the CAR market will dominate the action on the ground.  I hope that the UNFCCC process will embrace the work done in those markets and learn from them for the CDM – and not decide to reinvent the wheel. 

In the short term, I look forward to implementing some REDD+ projects – under the newly validated VCS methodologies or in Mexico under CAR!

Saludos a todos,

Keegan

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

The REDD negotiating text contains two options – Option 1 (from the meetings previously held in Tianjin) and Option 2 (from last year’s COP15 in Copenhagen) .  Most groups thought that Option 2 would likely prevail at the negotiations in Cancun.  Thus, preparations were made to comment on and suggest text as it pertains to Option 2.  However, the Chair’s text (CRP.1) was introduced just prior to the opening of COP-16 in Cancun.  The consensus among most NGOs is that the Chair’s REDD text sets a good starting point, but most are refraining to officially comment until the delegations have indicated which option they wish to pursue.

I notice that numerous groups are working at attempting to incorporate language that includes international demand side drivers and safeguards in all options.  These organizations are adamant that REDD will not be a success until these international drivers are considered and addressed.  This was further emphasized at the UN REDD Programme’s side event on biodiversity, where Michael Bucki of the European Commission (EC) indicated the importance of international drivers and that the EC will be commencing a study on international drivers in January, to be concluded in May.  This, and the universal support of Partners and Stakeholders of the REDD+ Partnership to prioritize the need to address international demand side drivers, will hopefully provide the necessary impetus to ensure a successful outcome for REDD.

Many different discussions are taking place and the negotiations are truly beginning as this is the second week of the COP.  It will be interesting to see what moves through the process and is passed on to the technical working groups.

Alternatively, it is very interesting to note that the voluntary market has approved a number of REDD methodologies in the last week.  With both the REDD Toolbox from Avoided Deforestation Partners and the Mosaic REDD Methodology from Terra Global Capital having completed the double validation process and being released for use by all project developers under the VCS.  This is now the driver of the REDD program, in any real market sense, and is complicating the negotiations as well – as the voluntary market is way out front of the regulatory carbon market on developing methodologies and protocols for REDD projects.  It is an interesting time – to watch the compliance markets rush to stay in front, while already behind.

I can’t wait to see what the outcomes are.

Cheers from warm Cancun (relative to frozen Missoula, Montana!),

Keegan

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ClearSky Climate Solutions is excited to be working on some innovative projects that avoid, or reverse, deforestation from the impending threat of deforestation.  These are exciting projects form a number of perspectives: improved local livelihoods for forest-dependent communities, improved biodiversity habitat via forest ecosystem conservation, improved local governance through transparent agreements on how to share carbon revenue and re-invest in the communities involved, and of course – the mitigation of emissions from deforestation that was slated to occur.  These are the kinds of holistic solutions that ClearSky is most interested in being a part of. 

Human caused climate change is, in fact, caused by human actions.  At ClearSky, if we can help find a way to more effectively manage humans – and their use of the natural resources they have access to – we believe we can more effectively address the emissions of greenhouse gases.  Humans are complicated and behave the way they do for many interconnected and correlated reasons.  Understanding how a solution to one community’s resource problem does not mean it is directly replicable in another community – but it is adding to the library of possibilities that can be leaned on in the future to craft new solutions.  REDD and REDD+ (avoided deforestation that includes a focus on sustainable development, community benefits and ecosystem/biodiversity benefits as well as greenhouse gas benefits) present a unique opportunity to merge numerous interests to solve common problems, with a market based approach. 

REDD/REDD+ are very interesting and potentially revolutionary, by merging ecosystem markets with community development and ecosystem conservation.  There are a number of unresolved, as yet, issues: what is the permanence of the carbon credits created by these projects?  What happens after the project life and crediting period that protects the forest into the future?  What about leakage – and the need for national level, forest carbon accounting standards?  What about the need for transparency in the distribution of financial benefits accruing to a project?  How does the project improve local communities and local governance? Will REDD also improve the forest-dependent peoples’ access to the forest for non-timber forest products, improve their training in value added processing, give them legal tenure claims on customary lands?  These and many other issues need to be cleared up at the international policy level and at the local project implementation level. 

The mere idea that REDD and REDD+ could have a potentially large impact in making the worlds forests worth more standing than they are cut – is exciting.  That the services that forests provide: carbon sinking, oxygen creating, biodiversity habitat holding, evapotranspiring-rain creating systems, soil fertility improving, flood water reducing and retaining are all valuable to the planets and the humans that inhabit it.  The fact that forests are reserves of genetic material, protein banks, seed libraries, spiritual retreats, and add much needed resilience to help stabilize the meteorological systems of our planet all make it easier for humans to live comfortably.  That is what the climate change question is really about……can we agree to make it relatively comfortable for the future generations of humans that will inhabit this little rock – 3rd from the sun?  The changes are evident before our eyes already.  What will we do about it? And how wonderful that there are options to address so many needs simultaneously, with REDD and REDD+ in our toolkits.

As jet-lag refuses to abate, I find myself writing this post at 4:40AM.  It is early morning in Cambodia, and I’m here to have a look at the new Avoided Deforestation project being designed in Northern Cambodia.  The Oddar Meanchey Community Forest REDD Project, implemented by The Forest Administration of Cambodia, Terra Global Capital, and Pact Inc.  There is a novel experiment happening in the forest of Cambodia – rural, forest-dependent communities are being engaged in the international carbon market in a way not previously seen.  Numerous communties along a river valley, that leads eventually to the Mekong River, are aggregating their good stewardship of their forests in an avoided deforestation project.  The rural communities are all being vested with secure land title from the national forestry authority.  This is something of great importance to the communities, and something they have never had.  It is also considered to be a lynchpin to achieving sustainable management by forest communities around the world.  If the people become owners of the lands, are they apt to manage it differently than if they are users of the forest?  That’s the question.  It is often taken for granted that a homeowner treats the home beter than a tenant renting the space.  Is that true of forests as well?

The accumulation of rural farming villages, tree resin collectors, and buddhist monks leading the various communities have aggregated their efforts to protect their forests.  It is now “their” forests.  In exchange for protection and monitoring, guarding and measuring their forests against threats of harvest from outside, the communities also hope to gain access to the voluntary carbon marketplace.  The project is in the finals stages of validation/verification under the Voluntary Carbon Standard.  It will soon generate revenues from the sale of carbon credits, which will be shared amongst the Forest Administration, TerraGlobal Capital and the communities themselves. 

ClearSky is keenly interested in seeing the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) carbon credit marketplace take off in a robust manner.  It has a unique opportunity to be a win-win-win scenario.  By intimately involving communities in the design/implementation and rewards of a carbon project, the carbon funds can bring about more secure livelihoods for forest-dependent peoples around the world.  At the same time, REDD proejcts can protect the atmosphere and climate regime as well as the forests and biodiversity from areas that have not been significantly impacted. 

If the experiment works – it can achieve numerous goals at the same time.  That is something well worth looking into!