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PUBLICATIONS : Modalities for REDD+ Reference Levels : Technical and Procedural Issues

Arild Angelsen, Doug Boucher, Sandra Brown, Valerie Merckx, Charlotte Streck, Daniel Zarin

Looking toward the 17th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) in Durban, South Africa, the Government of Norway commissioned Meridian Institute to undertake a new options assessment effort focusing on modalities for REDD+ reference levels. This project follows on two previous Norway-sponsored activities (REDD-OAR and REDD+ IOA).

The December 2010 Cancun Agreements mandated that the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) develop modalities relating to forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels for consideration at COP-17. This new options assessment process is intended to help support and inform the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties and other stakeholders leading up to and beyond COP-17. The project will occur in two phases, both resulting in published reports—one in June 2011 and one in December 2011.

REDD+ is Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and includes the conservation and sustainable management of forests as well as the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Establishing agreed-upon modalities for reference levels, or reference emission levels, is a critical design element of an international REDD+ mechanism, since there will be a need for commonly accepted approaches for estimating benchmarks and measuring emission reductions due to REDD+ efforts.

Meridian Institute will be convening and facilitating a group of independent, international expert authors to provide an objective assessment of the key technical and procedural issues related to the development of modalities for REDD+ reference levels in the first report, followed by an options assessment of how these modalities might be pursued. Meridian will also be designing and facilitating electronic and group consultations, as well as side event and briefing activities at the UNFCCC conferences.

The phase one report, “Modalities for REDD+ Reference Levels: Technical and Procedural Issues,” is to be delivered at the UN Climate Change Conference in June 2011 in Bonn, Germany. The second report will be delivered at the COP-17 in Durban.

 

Visit the official website of the report at http://www.redd-oar.org/rl.html

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Release Date	August 23, 2011
Document Location	http://climatefocus.com/downloads/RL_report.pdf