Climate change in the news
Issue 3 – May 8th, 2009
Recent articles relating to the agriculture and forestry sector
1) SPC/GTZ Programme on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region to
hold Fiji Planning Workshop 19-21 May
2) UN DESA Climate Change Working Group Prepares Policy Briefs on Forests and Climate
Change
3) ICRAF Publishes working paper on mainstreaming climate change into agricultural
education
4) FAO Submission to UNFCCC: Potential of Grasslands for Climate Change Mitigation
5) CIFOR: Sources, sinks and cycles
6) PNG’s carbon trade role vital
7) UNFF8 adopts decision on forests in a changing environment
8) UNESCO’s ‘On the frontline of climate change’ forum issues call for project proposals
9) CSD begins consideration of desertification, drought, agriculture, land, rural
development and Africa
10) 29th issue of Forest Cover, the newsletter of the Global Forest Coalition
SPC/GTZ Programme on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Pacific
Island Region to hold Fiji Planning Workshop 19-21 May
The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), in
collaboration with the Department of Environment and Forestry Department, are holding a national
planning workshop of the Pacific-German Regional Programme on Adaptation to Climate Change in the
Pacific Island Region in Suva, Fiji from 19th-21st May.
The main objective of the national planning workshop is to plan activities and outputs for the duration
of the project (2009-2012). The project component for Fiji focuses on the REDD mechanism (Reducing
Emissions Deforestation and forest Degradation), and as such the workshop will also include an
introductory training on REDD and associated carbon trading instruments.
UN DESA Climate Change Working Group Prepares Policy Briefs on
Forests and Climate Change
22 April 2009: The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Climate Change
Working Group has prepared two policy briefs on forests and climate change. Policy Brief 15
addresses finance for forests and climate change, and Policy Brief 16 addresses reducing
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).
Policy Brief 15, titled “Finance for Forests and Climate Change,” concludes that the “global
climate change agreement should include actions on deforestation and forest degradation within
the wider context of sustainable forest management.” It also suggests that: funding should be
provided from various public and private sources including those mobilized through carbon
trading; international action is urgently required to support developing countries in building
capacity and preparing for forest carbon programmes; and negotiations on REDD and its
financing have to be based on the broader and comprehensive framework of sustainable forest
management.
Policy Brief 16, titled “Forests: the Green and REDD of Climate Change,” suggests that financial
resources expected to be allocated to forests for climate change programmes, including through
REDD, should be mutually supportive of financing sustainable forest management. It suggests
that extensive capacity building and training activities should be developed “to enhance the
capacity of developing countries for transparent, inclusive and accountable forest governance.”
It also highlights monitoring, reporting and verification to enable countries to apply
methodologies for estimating and monitoring carbon emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation under REDD. [Policy Brief 15] [Policy Brief 16]
ICRAF Publishes Working Paper on Mainstreaming Climate Change into
Agricultural Education
April 2009: The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), a research center of the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), has published a working
paper on challenges and perspectives for mainstreaming climate change into agricultural
education. The working paper is an outcome of a symposium on climate change challenges in
Sub-Saharan Africa, which sought to identify recommendations for effective policy, institutions
and capacity for addressing climate change in agricultural education.
The paper presents key aspects of climate change, including impacts on livelihoods, agrobiodiversity, bioenergy production, and adaptation and mitigation strategies. The second section
addresses the current status of climate change in agricultural education, starting with the
dynamic relationship between educational change and societal change and followed by an
assessment of shortfalls in tertiary agricultural education and the need for integrating climate
change into curricula. The subsequent section looks at measures to address climate change in
agricultural education, including: opportunities in the context of implementation of international
agreements touching on agriculture and climate change; required institutional arrangements and
activities, such as knowledge management, policy and international dialogue, national planning
and financing, and local-level implementation; issue areas to be integrated into curricula; and an
action plan linking recommended actions with responsible actors. The paper concludes that
present educational institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa are ill equipped to address climate
change challenges facing the continent and urges streamlining the outlined activities into
general educational activities. [ICRAF working paper]
FAO Submission to UNFCCC: Potential of Grasslands for Climate Change
Mitigation
27 April 2009: A new UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) submission to
the UNFCCC outlines the potential for grasslands to contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation.
The submission, which is based on a workshop of experts that convened from 15-17 April 2009,
in Rome, Italy, outlines opportunities and challenges for including grasslands in a post-2012
climate regime.
The submission explains that the carbon sequestration potential of grasslands has been
estimated between 1.3 and 1.5 Gt CO2 equivalent, which could be realized through a
combination of improved management practices and grassland restoration. Improved grassland
management could realize 2-8 percent of the mitigation potential by 2020 while improving
resilience of ecosystems and of dependent communities to impacts of climate change.
Management practices include the introduction of new species and varieties, fire management,
restoration of organic soils and degraded lands, extending the use of perennial crops,
increasing tree cover in silvopastoral systems, managing grazing intensity and
duration/periodicity, and improving pasture quality.
A second section identifies the challenges of enhancing carbon sequestration and carbon stock
management in grasslands, including: permanence; additionality; monitoring, reporting and
verification (MRV); and leakage. While carbon sequestration in grasslands is real and verifiable
in principle, methodologies need to be further developed in these areas. The submission
concludes that an enabling policy and institutional framework should be developed with the aim
of tapping the full mitigation potential from grasslands, focusing on five key areas: full GHG
accounting; measurements and monitoring; training and capacity building; policy measures in
the environmental and agricultural sectors; and financing options.
The submission suggests that UNFCCC COP 15 should consider actions such as: pilot projects
on the potential for C sequestration in grassland systems, cost effective measurement and
monitoring of changes in soil C levels, and adapted management practices; a phased approach
as a component of an overall agriculture initiative to test MRV strategies; and integrating
grasslands into the scope of LULUCF accounting, as well as into existing and new funding
mechanisms. [The submission]
Sources, sinks and cycles
On the road to COP15 in Copenhagen this December, everyone is talking about the
contribution to climate change of emissions from deforestation and degradation. But two
recent articles led by scientists at the University of Leeds – and reflecting contributions
from more than 100 authors from around the world – show there’s much more to the story
of forests in the global carbon cycle.
Until recently, it was widely assumed that mature,
intact forests were neither sources nor sinks for
atmospheric carbon, with sequestration from growth
on average balancing out emissions from decay of
woody material. But a few years ago, conventional
wisdom was challenged by studies from the Amazon
region showing that old-growth forests were in fact
increasing their carbon stock.
For a copy of the paper by
Lewis et al., please write to
Simon Lewis at
[email protected]. For more
information, visit the website of
the African Tropical Rainforest
Observation Network at
www.afritron.org.
Now Simon Lewis and his colleagues have begun
For a copy of the paper by
filling a big gap in the global picture with similar
Phillips et al., please write to
findings from Africa. In ‘Increasing carbon storage in
Oliver Phillips at
intact African tropical forests’ published in Nature,
[email protected]. For
they report on measurements of the growth of tree
more information, visit the
trunks at 79 plots in 10 countries, and extrapolate the
website of the Rainfor research
results to account for overall forest biomass at a
network at http://www.geog.
continental scale. They estimate that mature moist
leeds.ac.uk/projects/rainfor/
forests in Africa have been absorbing a net 340
million tonnes of carbon per year in recent decades.
This amount is roughly equivalent to the total emissions from deforestation in Africa, and
much greater than fossil fuel-based emissions from the continent.
PNG’s carbon trade role vital – Minister
PNG – CARBON TRADE: P/COURIER
Thurs 07 May 2009
07 MAY 2009 PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) ---- Papua New Guinea has a moral obligation to respond to
climate change and participate in activities that reduce green-house gases, a senior government
minister has said, reports Post Courier.
Speaking during National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) 2009 Agricultural Innovative Show on
Tuesday in Lae, Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Michael Ogio said the
impacts of climate change in PNG was severe and our participation in carbon trading was vital.
“As a member of the international community, we as a nation have a moral obligation to participate in
activities conducted to address climate change,” Mr Ogio said. “Our country has the third largest
rainforest area in the world and it stands to gain considerably from carbon trading which will enable
PNG to preserve and restore its rainforest.”
He said since PNG was situated on the western rim of the tropical Pacific, it was exposed to changes in
the ocean conditions such as the El Nino events, rising sea level, cyclones, floods and king tides caused
by global warming.
Mr Ogio said experts believed these events were going to continue and also increase in strength and
frequency in the next three to four years. He said vital measures had to be taken to help rural
communities.
“Responding to this need, the PNG Government under the visionary guidance of Prime Minister Sir
Michael Somare has set up the Office of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability (OCCES),” Mr
Ogio said.
“This office is now actively engaged in putting mechanisms in place to curb deforestation.”
He also commended NARI for already taking the initiative on number of research and development
strategies to counter climate change impacts on agriculture and rural societies in PNG.
Meanwhile, vice Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Jimmy Simitab also shared the same sentiments
saying mitigating factors of climate change was needed to be assessed and strategies formulated to
protect the rural areas.
“The main aim of formulating strategies is to protect habitats, ecosystems and infrastructures,” Mr
Simitab said. “Any comprehensive strategies should comprise impact assessments, monitoring and early
warning systems and upgrading of infrastructures at disaster prone locations.” ……PNS (ENDS)
UNFF8 Adopts Decision on Forests in a Changing Environment
4 May 2009: Climate change featured heavily on the agenda of the eighth
session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF8), which convened from 20 April-1
May 2009, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. After a late night session on
the final day of negotiations, UNFF8 delegates adopted a resolution on forests
in a changing environment, which encourages member States to, inter alia,
strengthen the implementation of sustainable forest management (SFM) in addressing the challenges
faced by forests due to climate change, forest degradation, and biodiversity and forest cover loss.
Throughout the two weeks of negotiations, delegates also discussed at length whether or not UNFF
should send a message to UNFCCC, the other Rio Conventions or other international environmental
agreements on the importance of SFM in addressing these challenges. This discussion considered
concerns about interfering with UNFCCC’s mandate or duplicating its work and the usefulness of a
message directed specifically to UNFCCC. In the end, delegates agreed to include text in the resolution
inviting member organizations of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), in particular the
Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to continue to integrate SFM into their strategies by:
considering the Non-legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests; and building on existing and wellestablished forest-related tools, processes and programmes available at all levels to implement SFM. [IISD
RS coverage] [UNFF8 website]
UNESCO’s “On the Frontlines of Climate Change” Forum Issues Call for
Project Proposals
1 May 2009: “On the Frontlines of Climate Change,” an Internet forum
launched by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership
with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Secretariat of the UN
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR), has issued a call for project proposals. Funding, provided with the
assistance of Denmark, will be dedicated to community-level projects showcasing local
experiences with climate impacts and adaptation.
Recipients can be individuals or groups. Funding will range between US$3,000 to US$5,000,
and project output style is flexible, varying from written reports to other media forms, such as
videos. The deadline for project submissions is 15 July 2009. Initial results from the projects
would be expected before October 2010. [The call]
CSD17 Begins Consideration of Desertification, Drought, Agriculture,
Land, Rural Development and Africa
4 May 2009: The 17th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD17) opened on 4 May 2009, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. At the
opening of the session, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro noted the timeliness of
the thematic cluster of issues on the CSD’s agenda: desertification, drought, agriculture, land,
rural development and Africa. She highlighted that these issues are deeply intertwined and are
also “intimately related to our response to climate change, our goal of reducing extreme poverty
and our promise to make hunger history.” [Deputy Secretary-General’s statement] [IISD RS
coverage]
29th issue of Forest Cover, the newsletter of the Global Forest Coalition:
http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/ForestCover/ForestCover-no29-April2009.pdf
This issue includes reports on the World Social Forum (WSF),that took place in the city of Belém do Para,
Brazil, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's 19th session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO)
and the UN Forum on Forests Financial Expert Group (UNFF) in Rome.
You will also find reports on the 7th session of the Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP)
and the 5th session of the Working Group on Long-term Cooperation of the Conference of the Parties on
Climate Change (AWG-LCA) which took place in Bonn and the 7th meeting of the ad-hoc open ended
Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in
Paris.
For more about the Global Forest Coalition and its activities you can visit: www.globalforestcoalition.org.