December 12, 2008
International Deforestation Report Draft Slows Negotiations, Fails to Protect Biodiversity And Indigenous Rights, U.S. Science Group Says
International deforestation report draft slows negotiations, fails to protect biodiversity and indigenous rights.
POZNAN, Poland (December 11, 2008) — Negotiators at an international climate conference here agreed on guidance for a new international agreement that represents a significant setback for efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
At issue is a proposal, called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), which would provide funding for developing countries to preserve their tropical forests. There is widespread agreement among countries that maintaining tropical forests is critical because about 20 percent of the world's annual global warming pollution comes from deforestation. When trees are cut down, they begin emitting the carbon dioxide they have stored over their lifetimes.
"The guidance slows the pace of negotiations," said Doug Boucher, director of the Tropical Forest and Climate Initiative at UCS. "Negotiators won't consider key questions, such as where the money comes from, until June—several months later than we expected."
The guidance, if applied to the final agreement, would weaken REDD significantly, Boucher said.
"The guidance calls for eliminating provisions that would have protected biodiversity and indigenous rights in the implementation of REDD," he explained. "The United States insisted on both changes. Australia, Canada and New Zealand also pushed for the removal of the indigenous rights provision."
The guidance also includes loopholes concerning how developing countries are rewarded for preserving forests, according to UCS. Brazil lobbied for the inclusion of those provisions.
When countries receive funding for cutting their emissions triggered by deforestation, some of those emissions would be exempted. Emissions that would not be "counted" are those that come from logged forest land that is replanted with saplings or allowed to regenerate naturally.
"These emissions would contribute to global warming," said Boucher, "but under the treaty, they never occurred."
Negotiators must work to resolve these issues here in Poznan or in the next few months.
"Despite the setback here I am still hopeful that the negotiators will buckle down and come up with a successful REDD agreement for the Copenhagen treaty," said Boucher, "But it will require hard work to get there."
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
