Home > Focus Areas > Forestry

Forestry

Forests have a significant impact on global warming.  Climate Focus believes that policy makers, climate negotiators and participants in the carbon market should recognise the essential role of forests to effectively and equitably combat climate change.

Climate Focus actively participates in the debate surrounding the relationship between forestry and climate change.  We also provide legal and policy advice to governments, non-governmental institutions, multilateral organizations, and companies on land use and forestry issues.

Putting forests on the agenda

Climate Focus and CATIE host successful RED Workshop in Brussels
On October 24 and 25, 2007 Climate Focus, CATIE, and Avoided Deforestation Partners hosted a dialogue on mechanisms to reduce emissions from deforestation (RED) in developing countries. The event was very successful and attracted over 70 attendees from Governments, the private sector, and non-profit organizations. One of the objectives of the event was to initiate a dialogue between governments and the private sector on RED policy given the acknowledged need for private sector financing to effectively address the problem of tropical deforestation.  
(view REDD Workshop page)

Projects and Activities

Voluntary Carbon Standard for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use
The Climate Group, IETA, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development have developed a Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) guidance document for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU). Interested parties can use this guidance document to develop high quality VCS-compliant AFOLU projects and methodologies that will generate credible, robust, permanent and fungible Voluntary Carbon Units. Dr. Charlotte Streck of Climate Focus is part of the RED expert group that provided advisory for the development of this standard.
(Voluntary Carbon Standard 1,108k PDF)

Vanuatu
Working with the government of Vanuatu to assess how to create incentives to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and provide advice for UNFCCC negotiations on this topic. The project in the news: Vanuatu Carbon Credit Project and the UNFCCC.

Carbon Stock Approach
Designing and testing a system to account for avoiding deforestation called the Carbon Stock Approach.

Foresty Credits in the EU ETS
Formulating a proposal to the European Commission and the European Parliament for including forestry credits in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

Methodologies
Addressing land use change-related issues in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) methodologies, for instance in the field of plantations for biofuels.

Much of our forestry work is accomplished in partnership with a number of organisations including Joanneum Research, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, Forest Carbon and the Victorian University of Wellington.

Forests Combat Climate Change

Deforestation is the most significant source of emissions for many developing countries, and if not addressed will undercut global efforts to reduce emissions in the energy sector. Afforestation and reforestation projects are also the most cost effective way of removing and storing carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, and well-designed forestry projects generate an array of unique co-benefits ranging from saving biodiversity and abating desertification to providing local and indigenous communities with additional income, food, and medicine.

Forestry projects are among the few opportunities developing nations have to benefit from the global carbon market. By participating in projects that reduce deforestation, people who depend on forests have the chance to sustainably harness the value of their land instead of liquidating their forests to survive. 

Climate Focus is conscious about the role that forestry can play in the efforts to limit emissions and support developing countries. Thus, we have endorsed the Forests Now Declaration, which calls on world governments to take immediate action to tackle deforestation.

Forestry Projects Face Barriers

The Kyoto Protocol treats sequestration and deforestation differently for industrialised and developing countries.  While it allows credits to be generated from “land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF)” projects in both developing and industrialised nations, the rules are different for developing countries. Most significantly, the CDM only allows developing countries to generate credits for carbon sequestration from afforestation and reforestation projects. Even though deforestation is the most significant source of emissions for many developing nations, these countries cannot generate carbon credits by conserving their forests.

The rules that govern the creation of forestry credits are also more complex than those for other sectors, and there are restrictions on using these credits to meet emission reductions obligations. The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme even bans the use of them to meet emission caps created under that scheme.

As a result, any meaningful contribution to combat climate change from the forestry sector has gone unfulfilled.