WHAT: Forest experts from a coalition of leading environmental groups around the world will hold a press conference to explain the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) and Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) agreements and the role of forests in the climate negotiations process. Presenters will assess where we are now, the direction we're heading as we move toward Copenhagen, and what these agreements will mean for people on the ground. Impacts in Europe and Indonesia will be featured.
WHO: Speakers will include Ecosystems Climate Alliance experts Sean Cadman, The Wilderness Society, Australia and Nikki Reisch, Rainforest Foundation UK, and two representatives reporting on the effects of potential decisions, Lafcadio Cortesi, Rainforest Action Network, and Dr. Hans Joosten, University of Greifswald, Germany.
WHERE: UNFCCC meeting, BONN, Germany
WHY: Deforestation and wetland destruction together account for roughly 30 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions which, along with deep fossil fuel emission reductions, must be a central part of any effective climate treaty. LULUCF, the Kyoto Protocol segment dealing with emissions and carbon storage from agriculture and forestry in developed countries, and REDD, the proposed tropical forest component of the new Copenhagen treaty process, could be the international breakthroughs we've been waiting for - but the details of the agreement truly matter. Done poorly, these agreements will continue to provide loopholes for developed countries to avoid real emissions reductions - creating devastating consequences for the global climate and for forests. Done well, LULUCF and REDD represent an unprecedented opportunity for a global policy that reduces deforestation, forest degradation, protects forest peoples' rights, conserves biodiversity, and delivers real climate benefits.
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The Ecosystems Climate Alliance (ECA) is an alliance of environment and social NGOs committed to keeping natural terrestrial ecosystems intact and their carbon out of the atmosphere, in an equitable and transparent way that respects the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. ECA recognises that avoiding emissions of terrestrial carbon stored in the soils and biomass of forests, peatlands and wetlands represents the largest potential single opportunity for cost-effective greenhouse gas mitigation. ECA advocates climate, forest and land use policies to give strong, equitable, transparent and positive incentives free of perversities for avoiding the degradation of terrestrial carbon stores and for rehabilitating degraded land, supported by effective forest governance, robust monitoring and demand-side policies to ensure meaningful outcomes. ECA comprises Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Global Witness, Humane Society International, Rainforest Action Network, Rainforest Foundation Norway, The Rainforest Foundation U.K., Wetlands International and The Wilderness Society.