European Tropical Forest Research Network

This edition of the ETFRN News has been made possible by financial contributions from the Government of the Netherlands, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH– German Technical Cooperation, commissioned by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Published by: Tropenbos International, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Copyright: © 2009 ETFRN & TBI, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Editors: Van Bodegom, Arend Jan, Herman Savenije and Marieke Wit
Final editing and layout: Patricia Halladay Graphic Design
ISBN: 978-90-5113-100-0
ISSN: 1608-2486

Preface from René Boot, director of Tropenbos International and ETFRN Chair, and Peter Saile, Senior Advisor, Forests and Climate Change, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ):

Climate change is generally recognized as one of the greatest challenges of this century. Forests contain a substantial part of the planet’s carbon; therefore, current rates of forest loss contribute to almost 20 percent of total emissions of carbon dioxide. Climate change and forests are intrinsically linked: climate change is a threat to forests, and protecting forests from conversion and degradation helps mitigate the impacts of climate change.

To address climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was established at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It was followed in 1997 by the more powerful and legally binding Kyoto Protocol. The protocol recognizes that developed countries share the main responsibility for the current high levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, and places a heavier burden on them under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.” Under this protocol industrialized countries are allowed to meet part of their emission reduction targets abroad through so-called ”market-based mechanisms,” such as the Clean Development Mechanism.

The first Kyoto commitment period ends in 2012. At the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen in December 2009 (COP 15) countries are expected to concur on a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. One of the challenges in Copenhagen will be to engage developing countries in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change. In 2007 an Action Plan was agreed to in Bali, including a mechanism for reducing emissions from avoided deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).

In the run-up to Copenhagen the challenge is to guarantee that the new protocol will be effective and efficient in terms of carbon reduction, and at the same time equitable and non-detrimental to the Earth’s biodiversity. REDD could become a centrepiece for the financing of forestry reform after 2012. How to put this mechanism into practice after Copenhagen will be a challenge, however. Objectives for climate change mitigation and adaptation need to be integrated with sustainable forest management and biodiversity protection, and at the same time must allow for the improved welfare of rural people in developing countries. With this issue of ETFRN News, containing more than 20 wide-ranging articles on forests and climate change, we wish to contribute to the discussion on the potential role of forests and forest management in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

We thank the authors for their contributions, the editors for reviewing the articles and compiling this ETFRN News,
and the donors for their generous support.

ETFRN Coordination Unit
c/o Tropenbos International
P.O. Box 232
6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands
Tel.:+31 317 48 1416
Fax:+31 317 48 1426
E-mail: etfrn@etfrn.org