REPORT FORESTS. From the facilitators to the Champions FORESTS ARE STABILIZING OUR CLIMATE AND SECURING OUR FUTURE

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1 REPORT FORESTS From the facilitators to the Champions FORESTS ARE STABILIZING OUR CLIMATE AND SECURING OUR FUTURE Achievement of the Paris Agreement goals will be impossible without action to protect, restore, and sustainably manage all types of forests. Limiting global warming to 2 (or 1.5) degrees requires a rapid halt to deforestation, and reaching a carbon balance by the second half of this century necessitates massive forest restoration. Healthy forests also play a central role in creating resilient societies that can adapt to climate change and they already remove 25-30% of our carbon emissions from the atmosphere, hence representing one of the largest, most cost-effective responses to climate challenges. 1. Significant progress has been made on forests recently through multi-stakeholder partnerships to advance Indigenous Peoples forest agenda, and to green commodity supply chains under the New York Declaration on Forests, and major commitments have been made by states to reduce and reverse forest degradation and to halt deforestation through the SDG targets and the NDCs, and through performance-based emissions reduction agreements under REDD+ efforts. 2. Investments in adaptation and resilience of all types of forest ecosystems and of rural communities that depend on them must be scaled up, especially in Africa. 3. Effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and the NDCs related to forests will require concerted actions by state and non-state stakeholders, including public-private partnerships. 4. Concerted action is required to secure sustainable financing, in particular for adaptation and by scaling up existing initiatives. There are a number of recent and new initiatives and efforts on forests undertaken by country Governments, the international community, civil society, private sector, and the local 1

2 stakeholders including local communities and Indigenous Peoples. The following section highlights four of them. A. MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS ON MITIGATION, INCLUDING THROUGH REDD+ RESULTS-BASED PROGRAMMES: The Paris Agreement explicitly recognized the important role of REDD+ in addressing climate change, with forests being able to provide half of the emission reductions consistent with a 2 C limit: 18.4 GtCO2 y-1 while also generating multiple global and local co-benefits for people and the environment. In fact, many developing countries included REDD+ actions in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Countries have made significant progress from readiness to moving to results based payments, with Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Malaysia at the forefront of work advancing the four REDD+ elements (REDD+ national strategy/action plan; national forest monitoring system; safeguards information system and forest reference (emission) levels (FREL/FRLs)) with the FREL already submitted for analysis, and ready to move towards results based payment. Other countries are moving in their preparation phase and gearing up towards the implementation of specific REDD+ actions with support from the UN-REDD Programme, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the Green Climate Facility (GCF) through its accredited entities. In the last year, a milestone was achieved in the context of REDD+ results-based payments when the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Costa Rica signed agreements with the FCPF s Carbon Fund. The next countries in line are Chile, Mexico and Vietnam, which will present their Emission Reductions Programs to the Carbon Fund of the FCPF in December In addition, countries are developing sustainable financing packages to implement their REDD+ national strategy or action plan, combining a variety of public and private sources. For example, with the support of UNDP, DRC developed a comprehensive national investment plan that was instrumental in generating $200m of REDD+ phase 2 investment funding from CAFI. It also aligns and encompasses investment funding from the Forest Investment Program (FIP), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the FCPF Carbon Fund Mai Ndombe ERPA, which is expected to generate around 25 million tc02 of emissions reductions over 5 years. 2

3 Significantly finance from the GCF is starting to flow for national investments to achieve REDD+ results-based action. UNDP is the accredited entity for the first proposal approved by the GCF Board for funding to support REDD+ Phase 2 investments. This is a grant of US$ 41.2 million to co-finance the implementation of Ecuador s national REDD + Action Plan. It is also the very first program approved by the GCF that is fully consistent with the requirements of the UNFCCC Warsaw Framework on REDD+. Important progresses on REDD+ preparation and implementation are also backed by Joint Declarations of Intent, such as the one signed between Norway, Germany and Colombia, and the one signed by Norway, Germany and Peru. Through this latter agreement, Peru has committed to cease authorizations of conversion of forest land to agricultural use; review regulations and strengthen institutional capacities and mechanisms for transparency; demonstrate the capacity to continually monitor the commitment in the Forest Monitoring and MRV System; and establish a public private coalition with multinational companies committed to ambitious zero deforestation policies, focusing on the design and implementation of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) practices for sustainable production of key commodities. Another example is Mozambique, which has built a solid financial package including private sector cooperation and IFC investments. One more milestone has been the contractual engagement between IFC, the BioCarbon Fund s Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) and Nespress in Ethiopia aiming at increasing the productivity of high quality coffee production based on climate-smart practices. This partnership is expected to accelerate results-based payments in Ethiopia s forest landscape program in Oromia. The following examples highlight several more key initiatives on forest-related mitigation: INDONESIAN MORATORIUM ON CLEARING OF PEATLANDS Forests on peat lands in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesia) have been cleared rapidly over the past two decades to make way for oil palm plantations and acacia production forest. This has caused very high carbon emissions as the underground peat contains a multiple of the carbon contained in the above-ground vegetation and as peatland drainage causes important emissions 3

4 of methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Indonesia s declared a peatland clearing moratorium and a restoration commitment to restore 2 million hectares of peat land over the next 5 years is the single-most important pledge, in terms of land use emissions reductions, that any country could make. Because 1.4 of the 2 million hectares to be restored lie within concessions, the government will need to work with companies to reach its restoration goals. AMAZON VISION INITIATIVE IN COLOMBIA At COP21 in Paris, Colombia launched two initiatives to reduce deforestation. The first is the Amazon Vision, a payment for performance initiative with the REM program, financed through KfW with funds from Germany, Norway and the UK. Colombia has already demonstrated, 3 years of reduced deforestation (2013, 2014 and 2015) lower than the average. The Amazon Vision includes 5 pillars, including forest governance, intersectoral coordination for public policy aligned with reduced deforestation, agro-environmental systems on the forest frontier, investments for indigenous peoples and MRV. The second initiative was a Joint Declaration with the same governments of Norway, UK and Germany to reduce deforestation at the national level, also with results based payments for reduced deforestation but also, for the completion of key policy goals linked to the Colombian National Development Plan as an added incentive to achieve national climate goals. Implementation is underway, and this recent progress has led to interest from more confidence in Colombia to look at the forest sector as a key component in meeting Colombia s Nationally Determined Contribution. GREEN CLIMATE FUND S FIRST REDD+ PROJECT APPROVED FOR ECUADOR The $41.2 million GCF project will co-finance the implementation of Ecuador s national REDD + Action Plan, Bosques para el Buen Vivir, which has been in development since This is the single largest grant ever mobilized by Ecuador in the context of environment and climate change. It is also the very first program that has successfully translated the requirements of the UNFCCC Warsaw Framework on REDD+ to the specific requirements of the GCF. The funds will support efforts to address the drivers of deforestation by mainstreaming forest conservation in national public policy and in land-use planning down to the local government and community level. 4

5 THE BONN CHALLENGE: CATALYZING PROGRESS ON THE RESTORATION OF DEFORESTED AND DEGRADED LANDS To date, 38 countries, subnational regions, companies, and association have pledged almost 125 million hectares to the Bonn Challenge a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land into restoration by 2020 and 350 million by 2030, endorsed by the New York Declaration on Forests. Well over 100 UNFCCC Parties have included restoration/reforestation/afforestation related pledges in their NDCs with targets that will surpass the 150-million-hectare milestone. Major new pledges are under development for announcement in Marrakesh. Progress in the implementation of these restoration pledges will be monitored and tracked with Bonn Challenge Barometer. Members of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) are building global political and technical support for restoration around the world. Moreover, a diversity of actors is working to support countries restoration actions by designing and supporting regional initiatives; among others this includes the GEF-funded The Restoration Initiative (TRI) which will be implemented in 10 countries investing USD 250 M, and regional technical collaboration platforms such as AFR100 and Initiative 20x20. THE NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS Launched at the Climate Summit held at UN Headquarters in New York in September 2014, the New York Declaration on Forests pledges to halve the rate of deforestation by 2020, end the loss of natural forests by 2030 and restore at least 350 million hectares of degraded land by It also pledges to eliminate deforestation from the supply chains of key commodities, and strengthen forest governance while empowering communities and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, among other goals. The New York Declaration on Forests has been endorsed by 190 endorsers, 40 national governments, 20 sub-national governments, 57 multi-national companies, 16 groups representing indigenous communities and 57 non-government organizations. Achieving the NYDF goals could reduce the global emissions of greenhouse gases by billion metric tons every year. 5

6 Importantly, the NYDF has created a monitoring framework to track progress by this dynamic coalition. An independent network of civil society groups and research institutions the NYDF Assessment Coalition annually evaluates the progress toward meeting the ten goals formulated in the NYDF. Meeting the goals of the NYDF requires the ongoing resolve of its endorsers. Effective monitoring on progress, engagement and visibility of results is important to boost this resolve. The NYDF Assessment Coalition serves as a platform to facilitate these efforts. CENTRAL AFRICAN FOREST INITIATIVE This major initiative was launched and operationalized in the past year and several features make it unique. It covers the second largest tropical forest basin in the world (240 million ha of forest) and it is the first initiative targeting this region specifically with funding at scale. It has developed a national holistic approach to addressing forest loss that is described in national investment frameworks endorsed by the highest political authorities of the partner countries. Payments are made based on performance, spelled out as time-bound milestones in Letters of Intent. In addition, in less than a year CAFI has moved beyond pledges and declarations, and all of the countries are actively implementing the initiative: the DRC signed a letter of intent with CAFI for 200 million US$ and committed to achieve 40 milestones, and has already approved its first programs representing 45 million US$ of investments. Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic are at various stages of development of their national investment frameworks that will be presented to CAFI for funding with the expectation that CAFI funding will be complemented by other bi and multilateral flows including the FIP or GCF. B. REGIONAL PLATFORM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF OIL PALM SECTOR IN AFRICA PALM OIL: Launched at the Climate Summit held at UN Headquarters in New York in September 2014, the New York Declaration on Forests pledges to halve the rate of deforestation by 2020, end the loss of natural forests by 2030 and restore at least 350 million hectares of degraded land by It also pledges to eliminate deforestation from the supply chains of key commodities, and strengthen forest governance while empowering communities and respecting the rights of indigenous 6

7 peoples, among other goals. The New York Declaration on Forests has been endorsed by 190 governments, companies, indigenous peoples and civil society organizations committed to doing their part to achieve the Declaration s ten goals. Global public-private partnerships are scaling at the regional level, and Africa Palm Oil initiative (APOI), a signature initiative of the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020, is an example of a public private partnership across 9 West and Central Africa countries. APOI brings together brings together TFA 2020 Partners and collaborators within governments, companies, civil society and indigenous and local peoples groups to help transition the palm oil sector to a sustainable driver of long-term, low-carbon development in the region in a way that is socially beneficial and protects tropical forests of the region. It currently engages with Cameroon, Cote d Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone in a collaborative development of national plans for sustainable oil palm development and regional cross learning. C. FAO GOOGLE PARTNERSHIP ON FORESTS AND LAND USE ASSESSMENT ( Collect Earth ): Working together in partnership with dozens of research institutions, FAO and Google developed Collect Earth, an open source tool that provides access to large collections of free, high-resolution satellite imagery and to the software and computing power needed to process these into reliable land use, land use change and forestry assessments. The Collect Earth tool has generated some encouraging initial results and has tremendous potential for contributing to the implementation of the Paris Agreement, as follows: o Collect Earth can improve countries ability to produce up-to-date estimates on land use and land use changes and thus increase the accuracy of the emissions reduction estimates from deforestation and forest degradation under REDD+, thereby increasing trust for results based payments; o Collect Earth is an open source tool that enables countries to produce faster and more reliable statistical estimates on land use and land use change, and it has also been used for projects at the local level in different contexts to establish baselines and for monitoring and evaluating outcomes; 7

8 o o Collect Earth allows developing countries to access cutting edge technology, enabling them to produce transparent land use and land use change information for the implementation of forestry and land use carbon emissions reductions that 77% of all countries have included in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions prepared under the Paris Agreement; The Global Drylands Assessment that FAO produced using Collect Earth revealed the existence of 1.11 billion hectares of forest land 27% of worldwide forest cover and 13.5 billion trees outside forests in the world s drylands. This information, in combination with more detailed follow-up assessments, will help policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders to make better informed decision when dealing with natural resource management in the drylands; So far over 700 national experts have been trained to use Collect Earth in over 30 countries and they are now equipped in assisting to generate land use carbon assessments. D. MOROCCO S NEW SUB-REGIONAL FOREST INITIATIVE The Moroccan forestry initiative: Strengthened Action for forests in the Mediterranean Region and the Sahel in the Context of Climate Change was announced recently in Rabat. It concerns more than 1 billion people and nearly 200 million hectares of forests and other wooded land who are already experiencing the negative effects of climatic change, further driving mass migration. In accordance with the main objective of COP22 and capitalizing on existing initiatives and processes in the Mediterranean region and the Sahel, this new initiative aims to create a platform for partnership and cooperation that promotes action for forest ecosystems in the region and enhances resilience of the most vulnerable communities that depend on them. Besides (i) promoting knowledge about forest ecosystems functioning and vulnerability to climate change; (ii) sharing good practices of sustainable forest management; (ii) building capacity and improving coordination among interfaces in charge of the forestry sector; this new initiative has the ambition to (iv) define measures to improve the channeling and mobilization of financial flows from different sources to integrated forest projects, for the benefit of local people. 8

9 SUITABLE POLICY OPTIONS THAT WE RECOMMEND FOR IMMEDIATE ADOPTION Scaling up progress on forests Foster enabling environments that facilitate cooperation among multiple stakeholders, including incentives for private sector engagement in implementing actions that advance national climate change plans and help to achieve the global goals, clarification / formalization of Indigenous and local community forest tenure and use rights including through the large-scale adoption of voluntary guidelines on the governance of tenure of land, water, fisheries and forests - and their inclusion in national planning, and participatory, inclusive and community-based approaches that engage civil society. Facilitate implementation of open access tools for monitoring forests and land use, such as Collect Earth, to carry out rapid reliable and transparent assessments, enabling developing nations and forest communities to improve access to financing under performance based emission reduction and removals programs for developing countries. Adaptation and resilience of forests and societies Develop and implement innovative plans for forest adaptation to climate change that consider forest protection against threats and hazards induced by it, socioeconomic programs to increase the resilience of the communities, and adjust forest management practices. Step up the Climate Change Adaptation agenda in the forest sector, starting prior to 2020 with those adaptation interventions that also produce emissions reductions. Integrate forests and other land uses Align priorities in the land use sector so that incentives and policies put in place in one land use sector are not undermining the priorities of the others, especially regarding agricultural subsidies that promote deforestation and forest degradation to more efficiently implement NDCs. 9

10 Broadening and scaling up finance Improve the access of developing countries, especially in Africa, to the financial mechanisms of the UNFCCC to implement forests-related commitments of the NDCs, especially by building national capacities to implement and monitor climate change mitigation and adaptation investments and by streamlining the rules and requirements of international mechanisms. Public finance in country and community capacity building will be essential to leverage private investments. Short-term objective (by COP23) Step up investment in national and local level capacity building efforts to ensure that the many developing countries who have included climate change mitigation (REDD+) as well as adaptation activities in the forest sector in their NDCs, are ready to implement their commitments by 2020; Mobilize financing for funding the NDCs commitments on climate change mitigation and adaptation related to the forest and land sector, to assist developing countries in implementing their national REDD+ strategies and National Adaptation Plans, and achieving the SDGs; Assist developing countries in updating their NDCs, as appropriate, to include more ambitious mitigation as well as adaptation activities in the forest sector, consistent with national REDD+ and low emissions development strategies aligned with the SDGs. Such assistance should include support for mechanisms to track through revisions and resubmissions of NDCs, and/or elaboration of existing NDCs through submission of supplementary information, and refinement of conditional/unconditional forest contributions to NDCs. 10

11 Mid-term objective (2020) Contribute to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 15 to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainability manages forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss; Strengthen forest governance frameworks, build national and local capacity and mobilize finance to implement forest related climate change adaptation commitments under the NDCs as well as forest and land use content of National Adaptation Plans, in implementation of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) 2016 on decision on forests and climate change; Mobilize multi-stakeholder partnerships to implement the goals of the New York Declaration on Forests, especially to go beyond goal number 1 to halve the rate of loss of natural forests globally, and track progress through an annual assessment of advancement on the NYDF goals; Promote accountability in the measurement of progress, through an annual assessment of advancement on forest and climate change related commitments, including the NYDF goals; Strengthen regional initiatives such as AFMS to encourage more ambitious forest related climate change mitigation and adaptation goals under the NDCs