Here's What Happens If the World Loses Its Rainforests

Dear UN-REDD,

As the impacts of a changing climate continue to be increasingly felt around the world -- drought in Western Europe and some parts of Africa, wildfires in Northern America, floods in East Asia – Gabon was hosting Africa Climate Week in Libreville. The UN-backed conference aimed to engage and empower stakeholders, to drive climate action across countries, communities and economies, across the continent ahead of the COP27 (United Nations Climate Change Conference), in Egypt in November.

During the Africa Climate Week, the emphasis was on climate adaptation, which will also be the COP 27’s main topic. Africa’s contribution to climate change mitigation, however, should not be neglected.

The more mitigation action we take, the less we need more costly adaptation actions. Forest solutions can make an important contribution to climate change mitigation through REDD+. And although gross deforestation has declined globally, this reduction is insufficient to end deforestation by 2030. One way forward is to be more inclusive of women, youth, the elderly and ethnic minorities.

Enjoy your read!

PERSPECTIVES

Here’s what happens if the world loses its rainforests

War in Europe, economic turmoil and the impacts of COVID-19 have dominated global headlines in 2022. But climate change, biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution and waste – our triple planetary crisis – have not gone away.

Indeed, the Ukraine conflict, soaring energy and commodity prices and the lingering pandemic all point to the need for a more sustainable world. A key element of that transformation is halting the loss of nature and restoring ecosystems. And few ecosystems are as important as rainforests.

What is needed to achieve one gigaton of emissions reductions from forests by 2025?

Protecting, conserving and restoring forests makes a substantial contribution towards achieving the Paris Agreement, as emphasized by the Glasgow Climate Pact (UNFCCC 2022). According to a report launched at COP26, nature-based solutions implemented across all ecosystems can deliver emission reductions and removals of at least 5 GtCO₂e per year by 2030, from which 62% (around 3 GtCO₂e per year) of this contribution is associated with protecting, conserving, and restoring forest ecosystems.

Adequate and predictable results-based climate finance for forests: where are we now?

Financing for forests under the UNFCCC Green Climate Fund: what happened to adequate and predictable result-based finance for Article 5 of Paris Agreement? A thought piece.

Almost ten years after the release of concluding guidance on policy approaches and incentives to foster forest-solutions that contribute to climate change mitigation through REDD+, predictable results-based finance (RBF) are facing new challenges.

STORIES

High integrity forest data needs social inclusion

Countries are undertaking efforts to strengthen their National Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMS) to generate high-integrity forest data that meet the technical requirements of new carbon standards (ART-TREES, VCS-JNR).

Africa Climate Week: going for mitigation or adaptation?

There are burning topics in the news right now and climate change is undoubtedly one of them. It has been identified as the leading human and environmental crisis of the 21^st century. The problem of understanding climate change is one of the major challenges confronting African people, their governments and the African Union (AU).

"Paraguay + Verde", a REDD+ project kicks off

After receiving USD 50 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2015 and 2017, Paraguay + Verde, a REDD+ project that seeks to generate further reductions through the implementation of the National Forest Strategy for Sustainable Growth and the operationalization and capitalization of the Climate Change Fund, has begun.

Uganda advances in the safeguards front towards readiness

Uganda has continued its efforts to finalize Warsaw Framework elements by working to complete its Safeguards Information System (SIS). In 2022 under the leadership of the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) the country achieved important milestones: having a SIS and submitting its first summary of safeguards information.

Inicia proyecto Paraguay + Verde de REDD+

Luego de recibir USD 50 millones del Fondo Verde para el Clima (GCF, por sus siglas en inglés), por reducir emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) entre 2015 y 2017, inicia Paraguay + Verde, un proyecto REDD+ que busca generar nuevas reducciones por medio de la ejecución de la Estrategia Nacional de Bosques para el Crecimiento Sostenible y de la operativización y capitalización del Fondo para el Cambio Climático.

VIDEO:

. Wildfire Management