1 July 2010: Ravi Prabhu, Senior Programme Officer for the UN-REDD Programme, and Jan McAlpine, Director of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), delivered presentations at the Commonwealth Forestry Conference, taking place in Edinburgh, UK, from 28 June–2 July 2010. The theme of the Conference, which takes place every four to five years, is “Restoring the Commonwealth’s forests: Tackling climate change.”

Prabhu’s presentation was part of a special session at the Conference titled “Delivering REDD+: From Copenhagen to Cancun,” a daylong session addressing all aspects of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+). Prabhu mapped out bilateral and multilateral REDD initiatives and the organizations involved, including UN-REDD, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and Forest Investment Program, and the Congo Basin Forest Fund. He outlined the three phases of support for REDD: supporting countries to become REDD-ready; investments that transform the sector; and payments for performance. Prabhu highlighted the Programme’s ongoing work in measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) and stakeholder engagement in REDD development, and noted that the Programme was initiating work on governance and equitable and transformational step-changes in the forestry sector.

McAlpine presented a 360 degree perspective on forests. She encouraged participants to promote the International Year of Forests (IYOF) 2011, unveiled the IYOF logo and highlighted preparations for related activities worldwide. She stressed the need to broaden the forest agenda beyond timber and carbon, and called for cross-sectoral cooperation to address deforestation, as the problems in the forestry sector are often caused by other sectors. [Conference Website]