The UN Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) and the Green Gigaton Challenge are aiming to mobilize funding to achieve one gigaton of annual emissions reductions from forests by 2025, and annually after that. This was the focus of a side event at the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 27), which discussed findings from the report titled, ‘Making Good on the Glasgow Climate Pact: A Call to Action to Achieve One Gigaton of Emissions Reductions from Forests by 2025.’

During the 11 November event, Susan Gardner, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), underscored that forests are a powerful nature-based solution with the potential to absorb four gigatons of carbon per year, citing the Glasgow World Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. She emphasized the need to commit to a higher price for carbon and fair, results-based financing to establish a functioning carbon market and ensure the integrity of emissions reductions. Maggie Charnely, Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, UK, highlighted the creation of the Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership at COP 27, which seeks to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation.

Dirk Nemitz, UNFCCC Secretariat, highlighted three necessary actions: building political momentum to address deforestation by translating pledges to protect forests into action on the ground; a long-term perspective on results-based financing, in which markets are reassured that payments will be available; and metrics that assure accountability of pledges. Speakers also emphasized that Indigenous Peoples should be included in policymaking, project programming and management, and implementation, and that Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to protect Indigenous Peoples.

Another side event, organized by Griffith University, in collaboration with Lund University, focused on key findings of the Land Gap Report, which explores gaps between governments’ climate plans and the lack of land to meet pledges and commitments. The report shows that nationally determined contributions (NDCs) reflect an unrealistic reliance on land-based carbon removal and that a huge gap exists between the amount of land needed to meet NDC pledges and land available for this purpose, with land-use change already exceeding planetary boundaries.

Multilevel governance as a catalyst for adaptation finance at the local level was the topic of an event, convened by the NAP Global Network Secretariat, which addressed lessons learned and best practices in creating strategic links to National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes that present an opportunity to establish mechanisms for channeling finance to local levels.

Representatives from Africa and Latin America shared their experiences with local adaptation planning and implementation. 

Anne Hammill, NAP Global Network Secretariat, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), described the NAP Global Network’s areas of work, including: short and long-term technical support for countries; South-South peer learning and exchange; and knowledge mobilization that includes the NAP Trends platform, which provides summaries of the information in NAP documents and analyses of trends across countries.

Another event focused on the necessity and potential of gender-responsive approaches for building climate resilience in contexts of vulnerability, food insecurity, and conflict among women farmers in Africa and Asia. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) organized the event.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) is covering selected side events at the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference in Egypt, which runs through 18 November 2022.