The first expert meeting was held in in Brasilia, Brazil, from 14-15 July 2010. Participants discussed the development of a voluntary REDD+ database to track global activities on financing, actions, results and preliminary gap analysis. Discussions on the Partnership workplan and working modalities will continue at the August Bonn Climate Change Talks.

The Newsletter highlights several other recent meetings, including: a UN-REDD, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, and the Forest Investment Program meeting to work on a joint paper on enhancing cooperation and coherence among REDD+ institutions; a workshop with indigenous people from Asia and the Pacific on applying the principles of free, prior and informed consent to REDD+ activities; and a meeting in Georgetown, Guyana to evaluate the Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PPs) of Argentina, Costa Rica, Kenya, Nepal and the Republic of Congo

Commentaries in the Newsletter address REDD+ in Zambia and current issues with measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of REDD+ implementation. [UN-REDD July Newsletter]

According to the message, mountain ecosystems are essential for regulating climate and water cycles, while they are threatened by land abandonment, intensification of agriculture, infrastructure development, unsustainable exploitation and climate change. With specific regard to climate change, the message notes that average temperatures increased by approximately 2 degrees in the Alps between the late 19th and early 21st centuries, which has resulted in: a significant decrease in glacier volume; less snow and more rain in the winter, resulting in more runoff in winter and less in spring and summer; and more than half of mountain plant species facing extinction by 2100. The message concludes that managing mountains sustainably relies on effective policies and actions at regional and local levels. [Message 8]

The Assembly endorsed the recommendations of the Committee of Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) on the streamlined single negotiation structure at ministerial and expert levels, with a view to ensuring effective coordination on climate change towards the 16th and 17th sessions of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC, to be held in Cancun, Mexico, in late 2010, and in South Africa in 2011, respectively. In addition, the Assembly endorsed the continued role of South Africa on the CAHOSCC in the run-up to COP17. African Governments expressed their intention to seek predictable and reliable financing to fight development challenges posed by climate change.

During the opening ceremony of the Assembly, on 25 July, Mexican President Felipe Calderón expressed hope that “in Cancún, all countries will be able to make a key contribution to the fight against climate change.” He stressed the need for African countries’ support and pragmatic approach to ensure that the Cancún Climate Change Conference will be “the start of a new era of agreements on climate change and the environment.”

On 27 July, Malawi President Bingu Wa Mutharika, Chairperson of the AU, delivered a speech on the African Food Basket as a new focused approach to agriculture and food security as the springboard for growth supported by strategic transport infrastructure, energy development, information communication technology, and climate change mitigation. He also stressed the need for African countries to strengthen national institutions responsible for monitoring natural disasters and environmental changes. During the closing ceremony of the Assembly, he appealed to all AU member States to champion the African Common Position on Climate Change in various fora and play a role in mitigating climate change effects. [South Africa press release] [Calderón’s speech] [Mutharika’s speech on the African Food Basket] [Mutharika’s speech at the Summit closing]

The Uganda POA is the first of its kind in the world, and promotes solid waste composting in urban areas, a system that, unlike landfills, returns organic matter to the soil, prevents land degradation, and significantly reduces methane emissions. The new program helps Ugandan municipalities set up waste composting facilities that are financially sustainable because of the revenues generated from the sale of both compost and carbon credits. A total of 156,889 Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) and 52,296 Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) will be sold to the World Bank’s Community Development Carbon Fund.

The programme also builds on South-South linkages by harnessing expertise and models of simple composting development in South Asia. And it was designed with the involvement of experts from India, who will also offer monitoring and training support. [World Bank Press Release]

The report notes that CIFOR embarked on a four-year Global Comparative Study on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD). It also describes CIFOR’s work on Forest Day 3 at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. On REDD, the report highlights research efforts in Sumatra and lessons learned from Indonesia’s experience with its Reforestation Fund. It also outlines its experience with the Tropical Forest and Climate Change Adaptation (TroFCCA) project in Costa Rica. CIFOR is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [Annual Report]

dates: 4-6 August 2010  
location: Bali (Jakarta Raya), Indonesia  
contact: AFP Secretariat  
phone: +62-251-622-622  
fax: +62-251-622-100  
e-mail: AFP@cgiar.org  
www: http://www.asiaforests.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=221&Itemid=256  

dates: 14-18 March 2011  
location: Tunis (Tunis), Tunisia  
contact: CIF Admin Unit  
phone: 1(202) 458-1801  
e-mail: CIFAdminUnit@worldbank.org  
www: http://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/cif/  

dates: 28-30 July 2010  
venue: UN Campus, Langer Eugen, Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10, 53113 Bonn  
location: Bonn (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Germany  
www: http://cdm.unfccc.int/EB/055/index.html  

In line with the “BASIC-plus” approach, additional participants were invited, with the Special Envoy of Venezuela for Climate Change in attendance as an observer. Equity in the international effort to address climate change was one of the main items on the agenda of the meeting. According to the resulting Joint Statement, BASIC ministers agree that fast-start finance will be the key for an effective result in the climate change negotiations at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 16) in Cancún, Mexico, in late 2010. They express concern about the lack of operational guidelines for the provision of such resources and underscore the need for such financing to effectively be new and additional, as well as provided as grants on a concessional basis, respecting the definitions of the UNFCCC and the understandings achieved in Copenhagen. BASIC ministers also stress the need for detailed and comprehensive information on fast-start financing flows provided by developed countries, to be made available officially, stressing the need for fast-start financing to cover, in a balanced way, all the pillars of the Bali Action Plan, including adaptation and technology development and transfer.

In addition, BASIC ministers underscore the distinction between measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) of emission reduction commitments by developed countries, which is related to compliance and comparability, and MRV of nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) by developing countries, which is related to transparency. They further underline that work on the MRV of international support must advance urgently, including through the development of common procedures for the reporting of finance. They state that only supported NAMAs should be subject to international MRV, in conjunction with the MRV of international support, while non-supported NAMAs will apply domestic MRV, noting that international consultations and analysis of information regarding non-supported actions would be useful to enhance transparency, through a multilateral technical exchange under the UNFCCC.

BASIC ministers also underscore that a global goal for emission reductions should be preceded by the definition of a paradigm for equitable burden sharing, emphasizing equitable access to carbon space as a central element in the building of a balanced and comprehensive outcome for the climate change negotiations. The Fifth Meeting of Ministers of the BASIC Group will be held in China from 10-11 October 2010, together with a meeting of experts to take forward discussions on equitable access to carbon space and address issues related to trade policy and climate change. [Brazil Press Release] [Joint Statement]

The workshop was organized by UNECE, in cooperation with the Energy Effectiveness Department of the State Standardization Committee and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Office in Minsk. The workshop served to share CIS countries’ experience in the use of renewable energy sources and discuss prospects for inter-regional cooperation. Currently, renewable energy sources make up only a small percentage of primary energy consumption in the CIS region, because of the availability of cheaper fossil fuels, regulatory uncertainty and artificially low electric power and heat tariffs. Against this background, workshop participants discussed a joint strategy for the development of the renewable energy sector in the Russian Federation and CIS countries. [UNECE Weekly]