22 August 2012: The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) convened a workshop on options for integrating biodiversity criteria into International Climate Initiative (ICI) projects in forests and wetlands. The workshop was supported by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and Birdlife International, and brought together biodiversity and climate change experts along with ICI project leaders.

Through a review of existing criteria and project guidelines, the workshop developed a consensus understanding on the type of biodiversity criteria that could be adopted, and how such criteria should be developed. The workshop highlighted lessons learned from experiences in mainstreaming biodiversity into ICI projects under implementation in Brazil, Guatemala, Palau, Russia and the South Pacific. These good practice examples of approved projects related to biodiversity were drawn from a portfolio of such projects worth over €270 million since 2008.

The criteria developed through the workshop are intended to strengthen the integration of biodiversity, specifically within ICI projects on adaption to climate change and on the conservation and sustainable use of natural carbon reservoirs/REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, and the role of conservation, sustainable use of forests and enhancement of carbon stock). The outcomes of the workshop will be compiled into a criteria list, to be trialed with pilot projects and project leaders and managers, vetted though consultations at the margins of relevant international meetings and finalized at a follow-up expert meeting in April 2013.

The workshop took place in Bonn, Germany, from 21-22 August 2012. [IISD RS Sources]