BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS - Portal do Professor

PART II / CHAPTER 4
2. Background to REDD
2.1 UNFCCC
Although the connections between forests, carbon and
climate change are well-established, the idea of paying
countries to reduce deforestation has only recently been given
serious consideration. The specific term “reducing emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation” (REDD) was first
proposed by the Coalition of Rainforest Nations in Montreal
at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 11) in December
2005, and has since gained significant momentum.
It has effectively eclipsed other forest-related processes and
institutions in importance, largely because of the
unprecedented levels of funding that are expected to flow
from climate-related funds. However, from the outset,
indigenous peoples and various NGOs have been concerned
about the potential for REDD to create perverse incentives to
further marginalize forest-dependent communities.
These communities have proven their abilities to sustainably
use forests over countless generations, but have often struggled
to maintain access to the forests and their traditional ways of
life in the face of national development schemes, which are
often funded by international banks and organizations.
At UNFCCC COP 13 in December 2007, REDD first formally
appeared in the negotiated text of the Bali Action Plan. 3
A major breakthrough in climate negotiations, the Bali Action
Plan provides the basis for long-term cooperative action (LCA)
to implement the UNFCCC up to and beyond 2012, when the
Kyoto Protocol is set to expire. In contrast to the Kyoto Protocol,
this new agreement would apply to all parties to the UNFCCC,
not just the developed countries and those with economies
in transition. 4
Most importantly for the forest sector, the Bali
Action Plan calls for consideration of “policy approaches and
positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation in developing
countries… and the role of conservation, sustainable
management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon
stocks in developing countries.” 5
BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS AND REDD
The following year in Poznan, Poland (COP 14), indigenous
groups had become much more organized and vocal about
the lack of inclusion of reference to indigenous peoples’ rights
within REDD. The original omission was due to opposition by
Canada, Australia, the US, and New Zealand, the same countries
that did not sign on to the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). 6
At present, UNFCCC parties
are negotiating the terms of REDD as part of the LCA in a
series of meetings leading up to COP 15 in Copenhagen in
December 2009. After three rounds of discussions held in
Bonn in April, June and August 2009, a negotiating text
containing a range of options was produced and will be
further discussed at subsequent meetings in Bangkok and
Barcelona in September and November 2009, respectively.
While the current work plan foresees a decision on REDD to
be agreed upon at COP 15, there remain a number of
contentious issues to be resolved, including the scope,
objectives and financing, which raises questions about the
likelihood of the former occurring.
2.2 The World Bank and UN-REDD
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) was launched
at UNFCCC COP 13 in Bali in December 2007, in order to
build capacity for REDD and establish pilot programmes of
performance-based incentive payments in select countries,
with the intent to expand it into a much larger system in the
future. The FCPF is composed of the Readiness Mechanism
and the Carbon Finance Mechanism. The Readiness
Mechanism will provide several forms of technical assistance
and capacity-building in order to prepare countries to engage
with REDD, including the following: determining forest carbon
stocks and sources of forest emissions; developing strategies
for preventing deforestation and forest degradation; and
designing national monitoring, reporting and verification
systems. The Carbon Finance Mechanism will select countries
that have demonstrated “measurable and verifiable” progress
towards REDD and award financing from the Carbon Fund
based on a system of “compensated reductions.”
3. Here it was referred to reducing emissions from deforestation “in developing countries” instead of “degradation”.
4. These Parties are also known as Annex I Parties.
5. Bali Action Plan, paragraph 1b. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its thirteenth session, held in Bali from 3 to 15 December 2007.
Addendum Part Two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth session. (FCCC/CP/2007/6/Add.1.) 14 March 2008.
6. See: http://www.tebtebba.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41:hr-day-2008-a-sad-day-for-indigenous-peoples&catid=51:ip-declarations
43