20 April 2010: The seventh edition of the UN-REDD Programme’s Newsletter reviews activities related to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in several countries, and includes reports, analyses, and commentaries on recent events and publications.
Highlighted in the Newsletter are commentaries from member country representatives on their country’s progress towards achieving readiness for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). Representatives from Viet Nam, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, the Philippines, Ecuador, Denmark and Norway comment on the value of their partnership with the UN-REDD Programme, and indigenous peoples and civil society representatives discuss their participation in the process.
The Newsletter also reviews recent events and publications: the fourth policy board meeting, held in Nairobi, Kenya, in March 2010; the Africa Carbon Forum, also held in March at the same venue, where emerging opportunities for REDD+ were explored in the agriculture and forestry sectors; the February IPCC expert meeting in Japan that explored ways of improving REDD+ guidelines; and the UN Food and Agricuture Organization’s (FAO) publication of the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA).
Peter Vuorinen, FAO UN-REDD Programme Regional Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, provides a commentary on the findings of the FRA 2010, noting that despite the Asia-Pacific region showing a net gain in forest cover due to large-scale planting in China, many Asian countries continue to have high deforestation rates. He adds that, because of this, the UN-REDD Programme has an important role to play in this region. Chris Cosslett, consultant, provides a commentary on the inception workshops that have initiated UN-REDD National Programmes in three of UN-REDD’s nine pilot countries. [The Newsletter]