The June issue of CIFOR's newsletter highlights a REDD+ pilot project in Brazil, the challenge of addressing REDD+ in Tanzania, and an analysis of Indonesia's moratorium on new forest concessions.
It also features meetings on climate change and bushmeat.
June 2011: The June newsletter for the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) describes CIFOR’s outreach to make research on REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks) more accessible to a broad range of stakeholders, as well as news from recent meetings on climate change and bushmeat.
CIFOR invited correspondents from the Associated Press to examine a REDD+ pilot project in Brazil, resulting in nine stories and interviews, six videos and dozens of photographs. The newsletter also includes a postings from “Science Dispatch” blog highlighting the challenge of addressing REDD+ in Tanzania, where 90% of the population uses wood fuel. The post describes the need for REDD+ policies to move beyond the forestry sector. Other “Science Dispatch” postings analyze: the assumptions behind Indonesia’s estimates of forest protected from its moratorium on new forest concessions; climate change adaptation; and the role of pulp and paper expansion in Indonesia’s concession moratorium. The newsletter introduces a meeting to take place on 27 September 2011 in Jakarta on “Forests Indonesia: Alternative futures to meet demands for food, fibre, fuel and REDD+.”
On biodiversity and bushmeat, the newsletter describes the negative implications of repressive law enforcement and the challenges of finding sustainable livelihoods for populations reliant on bushmeat. The article describes a meeting held from 7-10 June 2011, in Nairobi, Kenya, organized by the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Bushmeat Liaison Group and the Central Africa Bushmeat Working Group of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Other presentations consider the interactions between commercial logging and bushmeat in Central Africa, highlighting a US Fish and Wildlife Service programme that is building a team of ten Central African forest resource professionals to improve on current forestry practices and address shortages of information for decision makers to act on.
Finally, the newsletter calls for participation in an “Issues Marketplace” at Forest Day 5 to be held on 4 December 2011, at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban, South Africa, in 2012. CIFOR is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [CIFOR June Newsletter]