What's new in the UN-REDD Programme?

Greetings!

The celebrations of this year’s International Day of Forests under the theme ‘forest restoration – a path to recovery and well-being' remind us of forests’ remarkable health benefits, crucial for our life on this planet – as providers of fresh air, nutritious foods, clean water, sources of medicine and shields against zoonotic diseases.

Regarding the economic recovery from the pandemic, as Pradeep Kurukulasuriya writes in this newsletter, the cost of reducing deforestation to prevent the spread of novel pathogens is substantially lower than the economic cost of responding after the fact.

With COP26 and new initiatives such as the Green Gigaton Challenge, 2021 could be the turning point for forests and climate change – if we act together, as multiple voices pointed out at FAO’s main IDF event. People across 50 countries also chose conserving forests as the #1 policy response to the climate emergency in the world’s biggest ever survey on climate change led by UNDP.

This is encouraging for our work to harness the full potential of forests for people and planet, and our new publications on collective tenure rights and institutionalisation of forest data cover crucial aspects of this pathway.

With the historic challenge of socio-economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of us, UN SG Antonio Guterres calls on countries to ‘transform the global economy to be more sustainable, equitable, and resilient, so that all people can enjoy lives with dignity on a healthy planet’. Or as Richard Powers, author of The Overstory, puts it, “Trees stand at the heart of ecology, and they must come to stand at the heart of human politics”.

Happy International Day of Forests!

PERSPECTIVES

Healthy forests provide a pathway to respond to the climate crisis and unlock green recovery

Despite the hardship and loss of the past year, there are reasons to be hopeful that societies will emerge in 2021 with changed attitudes about the natural world, engaged in our collective role as custodians of the planet.

STORIES

Could 2021 be a turning point for forests and climate change?

A coalition of private and public sector partners have launched the Green Gigaton Challenge, which aims to mobilize funds to achieve its target of one gigaton of high-quality emissions reductions, per year, by 2025.

Forests are central to Papua New Guinea’s climate change fight

With its lush forests boasting some of the greatest plant and animal diversity on earth, PNG is also one of the ten most affected countries by climate change.

The institutionalisation of forest data for sustainable REDD+ actions

Forest data has become an indispensable foundation for informed decision-making on a wide range of issues, including reporting on climate and REDD+ commitments.

Recognizing Significant Role of Social Forestry in Supporting the Sustainable Economic Recovery

For Indonesians, forests have always been essential for food, drinking water, fuelwood, medicine, watershed protection or even cultural and spiritual services.

Collective Tenure Rights: Realising the potential for REDD+ and sustainable development

Secure tenure systems have been recognised for leading to transformational changes in the landscape for long-term climate change mitigation and to activities that enhance sustainable development.

Promoting Gender in the New Normal: Results of the UN-REDD’s Survey on Gender and Virtual Events during COVID-19

COVID-19 is affecting us all in almost every facet of our lives. Many forest conservation and REDD+-related engagement efforts and events have been reorganised as virtual meetings or webinars. The UN-REDD Programme undertook a survey to understand its impact.

Lower Mekong countries set their priorities on sustainable forest trade

A hotspot for tropical forests and biodiversity, the Lower Mekong Region (LMR) has become in the last decades a hotspot for deforestation.The UN-REDD Programme is fighting illegal forests products trade.

How maps can help effective policy communication

Spatial analysis is key to informing area-based planning and decision-making, such as national REDD+ planning.

Why quality forest data is vital for reliable REDD+ reporting

Forests play an essential role in climate change mitigation, with strong momentum for Nature-based Solutions (NBS).

Ecuador puts deforestation-free and sustainable production first

Ecuador’s efforts to achieve a deforestation-free and sustainable production model are a beacon to other nations and stakeholders, proving that economic growth and environmental conservation can be a mutually supportive and harmonized process.

The next top employer to work for? Well, it’s nature.

How nature-based solutions can create jobs across key industries and support a green recovery post-COVID

Read mo re

El sonido del bosque: Manejo forestal comunitario y comercio legal de madera en Colombia

A través de la Estrategia Nacional REDD+, Colombia ha estado trabajando para proteger sus recursos forestales desde el año 2018.

To tackle forest loss, focus on tropical deforestation fronts

Forests play a key role in helping to solve the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Yet every year we continue to lose about 10 million hectares of forests worldwide.

One gigaton of emissions reductions per year – how do we move from ambitions to action?

How can the growing interest in a net-zero economy and in forest investments be translated into practical, sustainable action that helps mitigate climate change?

Moving towards a more resilient, inclusive tourism-based green economy recovery in Bali

Tourism is the major emitting sector tourism generated offsets will enable Bali to offer climate neutral tourism as a pathway for recovery out off the pandemic crisis. While at the same time, generating a performance based revenue stream that enable communities to restore there degraded landscapes, through these offsets an ecosystem recovery approach based on carbon sequestration.