New online tool tracks deforestation (countries, states/provinces, municipalities)

Enormous greenhouse gas emissions are generated by deforestation, mostly in tropical countries. It follows that any viable effort to mitigate climate change will have to address tropical forest clearing, and REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programs are focusing on this problem. However, implementation of many REDD+ programs has been hampered by the lack of timely information on local forest clearing. CGD’s Forest Monitoring for Action (FORMA) system has been designed to help fill this information gap.

After three years of development work, we're pleased to announce the first global implementation of FORMA, which tracks monthly tropical forest clearing since December 2005 in 27 countries, their 280 states and provinces, and over 2,900 subprovinces and municipalities. We’ll soon release a companion GIS database that tracks monthly clearing in each square kilometer of tropical forest land in the countries covered by FORMA.
We have posted our first global report, which introduces FORMA and provides summary data and graphics, athttp://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1425835/

wow

Contact: Tara Setmayer (202) 225-2415 ***PRESS STATEMENT*** Rohrabacher Response to Misleading Reports on His Position Concerning Rainforests and Climate Change Washington, May 27 - “Once again those with a global agenda have created a straw man by misrepresenting the position of their critics. I do not believe that CO2 is a cause of global warming, nor have I ever advocated the reduction of CO2 through the clearing of rainforests or cutting down older trees to prevent global warming. But that is how my question to a witness during my subcommittee hearing on May 25th is being reported. I simply asked the witness, Dr. Todd Stern, who is a supporter of a global climate treaty that would dramatically hurt the standard of living for millions of human beings, if he was considering a policy that would address naturally emitted carbon dioxide, which makes up over 90% of emissions. “To suggest that I’m advocating such a radical approach instead of simply questioning the policy is a total misrepresentation of my position.”

ClientEarth's Daniela Rey blog on Amazon legislation

ClientEarth has a good blog on some recent developments in Brazil.

It should be clarified that overall in the past 5 years, Brazil's rates of deforestation have been falling/declining very dramatically. It is one of the greatest global conservation success stories of our time.

What Daniela is referring to is a recent spike in deforestation (in March and April 2011), mostly in Mato Groso state. Many people believe this recent rise in deforestation is related to federal discussions to weaken the Forest Code and grant certain types of amnesty.

Surge in Amazon (Mato Grosso) deforestation

Mongabay is reporting on fairly substantial increases in deforestation in the bell-weather state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Mato Grosso had experienced fairly substantial declines in deforestation in recent years.

A Brief History of REDD-Plus Negotiations

Note: this article has been excerpted from The Cancun Agreements: Do they advance global cooperation on climate change?, which was published by the Field Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development.

By: Tony La Viña, Lawrence Ang and Joanne Dulce

New social media tool for reporting deforestation

DeforLeaks provides a platform for any concerned individual anywhere in the world to report on deforestation events and/or their impacts on wildlife and humans. DeforLeaks shares your stories and contributions with the wider environmental and conservation community through its social media network.

Link to US REDD Strategy (Feb 3 2011 update)

The US government put out its REDD strategy in December 2010. You can find it hyper-linked in the title bar. Thus far, there seems to be little reaction to the plan.

(The original post was modified 2/3/2011 to link to the full USG REDD+ strategy. Previously the link went to the brochure of that strategy - the two documents are quite similar).

The brochure link is here:

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/environment/climate/docs/UnitedStatesREDD+Brochure.pdf

Excellent EDF summary on what to expect in 2011

Jennifer Haverkamp's excellent article is hyper-linked in the blog title bar. It notes that REDD+ and finance saw the most progress in the Cancun Agreements and that more work lays ahead. Happy New Year TFG blog readers - please don't forget to kiss a dinosaur this year!

Sectoral (and REDD) language in ARB's Regulations Order

The 188-page ARB rule is hyperlinked in the blog title bar. TFG has also transcribed the portion of the decision on sectoral crediting, where REDD is located. Below is our unofficial transcription of the relevant sections (from pages 176 to 178).

§ 95991. Sector-Based Offset Credits.

Sector-based offset credits may be generated through reduced or avoided GHG emissions from within, or carbon removed and sequestered from the atmosphere by, a specific sector in a particular jurisdiction. The Board may consider for acceptance compliance instruments issued from sector-based offset crediting programs that meet the requirements set forth in section 95994 and originate from developing countries or from subnational jurisdictions within those developing countries, except as specified in subarticle 13.

§ 95992. Procedures for Approval of Sector-Based Crediting Programs.

The Board may approve a sector-based crediting program in an eligible jurisdiction after public notice and opportunity for public comment in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (Government Code section 11340 et seq.). Provisions set forth in this article shall specify which compliance instruments issued by an approved sector-based crediting program may be used to meet a compliance obligation under this Article.

§ 95993. Sources for Sector-Based Offset Credits.

Sector-based credits may be generated from:

(a) Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Plans; and

(b) Reserved for other sources of sector-based credits.

§ 95994. Requirements for Sector-Based Offset Crediting Programs.

(a) General Requirements for Sector-Based Crediting Programs. The Board may consider for approval a sector-based crediting program which may include the following sectoral requirements:

1. Sector Plan. The host jurisdiction has established a plan for reducing emissions from the sector.

2. Monitoring, Reporting, Verification, and Enforcement. The program includes a transparent system that regularly monitors, inventories, reports, verifies, and maintains accounting for emission reductions across the program’s entire sector, as well as maintains enforcement capability over its reference activity producing credits.

3. Offset Criteria. The program has requirements to ensure that offset credits generated by the program are real, additional, quantifiable, permanent, verifiable and enforceable.

4. Sectoral Level Performance. The program includes a transparent system for determining and reporting when it meets or exceeds its crediting baseline(s), and evaluating the performance of the program’s sector during each program’s crediting period relative to the business as usual or other emissions reference level.

5. Public Participation and Participatory Management Mechanism. The program has established a means for public participation and consultation in the program design process.

6. Nested Approach. If applicable, the program includes:

(A) Offset project-specific requirements that establish methods to inventory, quantify, monitor, verify, enforce, and account for all project-level activities

(B) a system for reconciling offset project-based GHG reductions in sector-level accounting from the host jurisdiction.

(b) Sector-Specific Requirements. Pursuant to section 95996, specific sectors may have specific requirements unique to that sector.

§ 95995. Quantitative Usage Limit.

Sector-based offset credits approved by ARB for compliance pursuant to section 95821(d) are subject to the quantitative usage limit specified in section 95854.

§ 95996. Reserved for Sector-Specific Requirements

§ 95997. Reserved for Approved Sector-Based Crediting Programs.

Bolivia's rates of deforestation highest under Morales

Here in Cancun at COP16, Bolivia is definitely trying to present itself as the moral guardian of forests and Mother Earth. However data by FAO and other sources and compiled on Mongabay (link is in the title bar) show that under the Morales Presidency (Morales was elected in 2006) rates of deforestation in Bolivia have jumped significantly. Currently, Bolivia is deforesting at a rate of approximately 840 hectares per day. This rate is in stark contrast to President Morales's eco-grandstanding. President Morales has sent a knee to the groin of Cancun climate change negotiations (as he did in a soccer match recently). Hopefully he gets a REDD card here....

U.S. and Brazil sign deforestation agreement

Indonesia ready for binding targets

State Environment Minister Hatta confirms Indonesia will be submitting an official report to the UN regarding the Copenhagen Accord. This is big news for the country that, by most estimates, is the largest emitter of CO2 from deforestation.

Seeing forests through the cloud: Google launches Forest Carbon earth engine

You can see one post in the title and another one here:

http://blog.google.org/2009/12/earth-engine-powered-by-google.html

EDF's A Day in the Life of a Carbon Credit for Reduced Deforestation

An interesting story (hyperlinked in blog title) by Environmental Defense Fund on what a hypothetical REDD credit could look like in Brazil.

IPCC Pachauri hints at possible deforestation deal

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in a Reuters article, says talks in Copenhagen will likely go to the wire. That is obvious. Any possible deal will come late in the evening of December 18th, but even more likely in the early morning hours of the 19th.

What was most interesting about his interview was the notion that...

"Apart from possible deals on emission cuts by rich nations and finance for actions by developing countries to fight global warming, Pachauri said the world could also ink a pact to avoid deforestation.".

Given that REDD is far advanced ahead of other sectors in the UNFCCC process, given that international forest carbon is a major component of both House and Senate US legislation, and given the Governor's Climate Summits have a separate track for climate and forests, a deforestation deal would be the natural item that governments should be able to get across the line. The question is whether you can have a mechanism that uses carbon markets to arrest deforestation if the carbon markets themselves are not solved.

The original article is hyper-linked in the blog title.

Indonesia's REDD rules some years away

This story is quite important. Everyone realizes the importance of engaging the private sector, but rules for REDD projects will be needed at the national level. As this story and example show, REDD rules (particularly around carbon rights and benefit sharing) will take some time to develop. In the meantime, investors continue to be frustrated. This large new class of assets is likely to come on-line in both US and UNFCCC legislation. But without clear guidance on how private monies can be leveraged for conservation, it is likely that there will be continued enthusiasm, but little skin-in-the-game for private-financed REDD emission reductions. It should be noted that most other developing countries with substantial rates of deforestation are not as far along the process as Indonesia. Some countries essentially prohibited pre-compliant REDD projects from taking off.