Barcelona and Copenhagen

So we are on the final stretch to Copenhagen climate change negotiations. Next week, climate negotiators meet in Barcelona, the last stop before Copenhagen. Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation (REDD) will be high on the agenda.

I'll be chairing a REDD event hosted by the World Economic Forum, on Monday evening (see details below). In December, I've also agreed to chair a plenary discussion on forestry in Copenhagen hosted by the Center for International Forestry Research, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and the Government of Denmark. More about this event closer to the time.

Anyway, if you are going to Barcelona, you'll find me at this event at 19.15, which is being held at the Fira Congress Hotel, Meeting Room 1, Barcelona. Which is across the street from the Southern entrance of the main Congress Centre).


Solving the REDD Puzzle
Parallel public side event to the Barcelona round of the UNFCCC negotiations
Hosted by the World Economic Forum Climate Change Initiative in collaboration with the Sustainable Amazon Foundation


Forest-based mitigation through a mechanism such as REDD+ is a critical component of any global climate change solution, offering a significant win-win abatement opportunity equivalent to as much as 25% of required emission reductions by 2020. Important questions remain however regarding how to practically catalyze such abatement not only in terms of the required enabling policies at the international and national levels, but also on a range of critical issues such as how to finance REDD+ and readiness activities, integrate forestry into the carbon markets, and build robust MRV systems to ensure environmental and social integrity.

Building on recent reports by the World Economic Forum and the Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE International) among others, this session will bring together key government officials with leaders from civil society and the private sector in a constructive dialogue on the best designs for putting together these various pieces of the REDD puzzle. This interactive session will begin with a keynote address with a proposition for how to solve this puzzle, followed by reactions and comments from the high-level panel and the audience. This session aims to engage the broad set of stakeholders required to solve the REDD puzzle and map a practical path forward to this end.

Opening Speaker:
Virgilio Viana, Director, Sustainable Amazon Foundation, IIED Fellow, Brazil

Ralph Ashton, Convenor and Chair, Terrestrial Carbon Group, Australia;
Federica Bietta, Deputy Director, Coalition for Rainforest Nations, USA
Adam Matthews, Secretary General, Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) International, UK
Graeme Sweeney, Executive Vice President, Future Fuels and CO2, Shell, UK


Updated with revised location and final panellist list. November 1st.