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Asia-Pacific Roadmap – Materials

04 February, 2021

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Presentations from the Final Validation Online Expert Workshop (23-24 November 2021)

Full report from the workshop can be accessed here

Day 1

  1. James Roshetko – Innovative Technologies, Main Findings
  2. James Roshetko – Innovative Technologies, Recommendations

Day 2

  1. Yves Laumonier – Primary Forests in Asia and the Pacific: Diversity, Status, Trends and Threats
  2. Alexandre Meybeck – Towards a Roadmap for Primary Forest Conservation

Presentations from the Online Expert Workshop (23-25 March 2021)

Full report from the workshop can be accessed here

Introduction:

  1. Yves Laumonier, Principal scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR): Primary forests in the Asia-Pacific region: status, extent and diversity.

Keynote address:

  1. Anne Branthomme, FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA): Towards improved global reporting on primary forests.

Expert presentations:

  1. Li Diqiang, Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, the Chinese Academy of Forestry: The diversity, extent and status of primary forests in China and their importance for biodiversity conservation.
  2. Ate Poortinga, Senior scientist for the Servir-Mekong Project, Thailand will give a presentation entitled: Mapping forest disturbances using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
  3. Rajan Kotru, Lead Strategist Trestle Management Advisors & Fellow of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD): Diversity, extent and status of primary forests in India.
  4. Jalesi Mateboto, Land Resources Division, Pacific Community (SPC): Diversity, extent and status of primary forests in the Pacific Island countries.

Session 2. Increasing pressures on primary forests

Expert presentations:

  1. Nguyen Manh Hiep, Vietnam Administration of Forestry: Natural forest in Viet Nam.
  2. Lilik Budi Prasetyo, Professor at the Division of environmental analysis and geospatial modelling, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, Indonesia: Disturbance of forest ecosystem in Indonesia.
  3. Jennica Masigan, Center for Conservation Innovations Ph Inc., the Philippines: Extent of forest cover change in West Mt. Bulanjao and Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Palawan.

Introduction to breakout group discussions:

  1. Yves Laumonier, Principal scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR): Typology of the main threats facing different forest types.

Session 3. Priority areas for primary forest conservation

Introduction:

  1. Yves Laumonier, Principal scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR): Assessment of priority areas for primary forest conservation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Expert presentations:

  1. Edward Game, Lead Scientist for the Asia Pacific Region in The Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy.
  2. Kasturi Devi Kanniah, from the TropicalMap Research Group, Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia: Geospatial technology for identifying and mapping priority areas of primary forest for conservation in Malaysia.
  3. Riina Jalonen, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT: Conservation priorities for native Asian tree species from a multi-threat assessment.

Session 4. Primary forests: governance tools in the Asia-Pacific region

Introduction:

  1. Alexandre Meybeck, special advisor at CIFOR/FTA: What governance for primary forests’ conservation in Asia-Pacific?

Keynote address:

  1. Ryosuke Ujihashi, Forestry Agency of Japan: Initiatives in biological diversity conservation of national forest in Japan.

Expert presentations:

  1. Vongvilay Vongkhamsao, Director of the Forestry Research Centre, National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF): Policies and directions for primary forest conservation in Lao PDR.
  2. Ricardo Calderon, Executive Director of the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO): Role of AFoCO to support primary forest conservation in Asia.
  3. Tetra Yanuariadi, International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO): Sustaining tropical timber trade: ITTO’s roles in preventing illegal logging and supporting primary forest conservation in Asia and the Pacific.

Conclusion of Day 2:

Keynote address:

  1. Robert Nasi, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR): Asia-Pacific roadmap on primary forest conservation: food for thoughts.

Presentations from the Online Expert Workshop (Nov 30th, Dec 1st and Dec 3rd 2020)

Full report from the workshop can be accessed here

  1. James Roshetko, ICRAF/FTA, Indonesia: Introduction to Day 1
  2. Junqi Wu, Director of Communications, International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR), China: Harmonized system code for monitoring international trade of bamboo and rattan
  3. Tony Page, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre, Forest Research Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia: Development and deployment of teak germplasm in Papua New Guinea [pdf]
  4. Jalaluddin Harun, former Director General of Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) and Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM): Rubberwood – Valuable source of plantation grown timber for high value-added products in Malaysia
  5. Bas Louman, Programme coordinator, Tropenbos International, the Netherlands: Innovative finance for forestry
  6. Dr Vu Tan Phuong, Deputy Director in Charge of international cooperation, Academy of Forest Sciences, Vietnam: Forest technologies application in Vietnam
  7. Wu Shengfu, National Forest Products Industry Association, China: Innovative practices in the woodworking industry in China
  8. Oliver Coroza, Center for Conservation Innovations Ph, the Philippines: Geospatial solutions to conservation
  9. James Roshetko, ICRAF/FTA, Indonesia: Introduction to Day 2
  10. Lok Mani Sapkota, RECOFTC, Nepal: Social innovations in community forestry: an application and success case from Nepal
  11. Andrew Lowe, University of Adelaide, Australia: Using DNA to identify illegal and conflict timber in global supply chains
  12. Lobzang Dorji, Director of the Department of Forest and Park Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan: Use of innovative technologies in sustainable forest management in Bhutan
  13. James Roshetko, ICRAF/FTA, Indonesia: Introduction to Day 3

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  • Contribute! Roadmaps for primary forests conservation and innovative forest technologies in the Asia-Pacific region – the main results of the inception workshop

Contribute! Roadmaps for primary forests conservation and innovative forest technologies in the Asia-Pacific region – the main results of the inception workshop


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Following the recommendations of the ‘Third Asia-Pacific Forest Sector Outlook Study’ (FAO, 2019)[1], FAO and CIFOR, lead center of the CGIAR research programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), are developing two inter-related roadmaps for primary forest conservation, and for innovative forest technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. These roadmaps will include key recommendations (policy and concrete actions) informed by science. They will be developed through an inclusive and participative process, involving key regional stakeholders and technical experts and paying a specific attention to the contributions of students and people engaged in activities related to the forest sector in the Asia-Pacific region.

On July 30th, 2020, FAO and FTA co-organized an online inception workshop to launch this collective process with three objectives in mind: (i) agree on the global direction of the two roadmaps; (ii) identify potential contributors; (iii) start building a strong community around these roadmaps to ensure a large participation to the process. The workshop combined plenary sessions with parallel sessions in smaller breaking groups (seven groups of 8-10 persons each) with the view to ensure both inclusiveness and active participation.

The workshop attracted a wide and diversified audience, representative of the key stakeholder groups in the region (international organizations, governments, private sector, civil society, research and academia).

The first session, devoted to primary forest conservation, was the occasion to discuss the main threats facing primary forest conservation, among which: climate change and natural disasters; population and economic growth; overexploitation and illegal exploitation of forests; conflicting land uses; inconsistent policies across sectors and scales; corruption, weak governance, migration and conflicts. Participants in the workshop identified many ‘hotspots’ for primary forest conservation and suggested for the roadmap to develop a list of criteria that could help describing and mapping these hotspots across the region and contribute to prioritize conservation efforts. Among such criteria were mentioned: size, level of threats, as well as richness and uniqueness of the ecosystem (considering its environmental, economic, social and cultural values).

Participants recommended to adopt an integrated, cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder forest governance, articulated at all scales. Remnant primary forests should be considered within the broader landscape, taking into account the dynamics at stake in surrounding areas (e.g. planted forests, agricultural land, infrastructures and human settlements) that directly or indirectly impact primary forest status and trends. Among the institutional challenges for primary forest conservation, participants highlighted: the accurate monitoring of primary forest values; the sustainable funding of forest conservation; the importance of education and capacity building; the effective enforcement of existing laws and rules.

During the second session, the following categories of innovative technologies appeared as the most promising for sustainable forestry and sustainable forest management: ICTs/digital technologies; low-carbon technologies; biotechnologies; and emerging finance technologies. Most participants shared the feeling that innovation benefits will outweigh the risks. Innovative technologies can provide new products and services; generate further income and employment opportunities in the forest sector; and, by reducing waste, enhance the sustainable management of natural forest resources. However, the negative impacts of new technologies on local communities – including in terms of access to natural resources, food security, employment and livelihoods -, on natural ecosystems and on biodiversity should not be overlooked. In particular, the adoption and dissemination of innovative technologies will likely produce a shift in the labour market: generating new skilled job but destroying unskilled jobs and marginalizing traditional practices.

Among the main barriers to uptake and upscale of technologies, participants identified: (i) the lack of capacity (infrastructures and equipment, human capital and financial resources); and, (ii) restrictive policies and regulations lagging behind the rapid evolution of technologies and the rapid shifts in wood demand. One of the major challenges will be to “scale-down” innovative technologies and adapt them to each local context, so that they can also benefits to traditional users, smallholders and local communities. Participants agreed that regional cooperation, investment, infrastructure development, education and capacity building will be key to overcome these barriers, support technology transfer and dissemination, and accompany the populations at risk of being marginalized by these technological advances. They highlighted the importance for the public and private sectors to work hand-in-hand to address these issues.

Consumers have a lot of power for orienting the forest sector towards sustainability. Consequently, these roadmaps should contribute to raise consumer awareness on the two topics discussed during this workshop.

Report of the FAO-FTA Inception Workshop held on 30 July 2020

The workshop report presents in more details the discussions and the main results of the workshop.

During the workshop, participants demonstrated their high level of interest and enthusiasm for the two topics discussed. This raises high expectations regarding the outcomes of this collective process. Thomas HOFER, Senior Forestry Officer in FAO Regional office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO-RAP, Bangkok), thus invited all participants to maintain their level of engagement in the coming months and to contribute actively to the work ahead with innovative ideas, out-of-the-box thinking and a forward-looking perspective, in the spirit of the ‘Third Asia-Pacific Forest Sector Outlook Study’.

At the end of the workshop, Vincent GITZ, FTA director, presented the next steps of the collective process of development of the two roadmaps.

After the workshop, the scopes of the two roadmaps were refined, based on the comments received.

The two revised scoping notes can be downloaded here

In the coming months, FAO and FTA will invite further contributions to the roadmaps through different channels: (i) direct interviews of selected key regional stakeholders; (ii) an open online consultation; and, (iii) an essay competition for students and young people engaged in activities related to the forest sector in the region. Following this inception workshop, additional technical workshops will be organized as appropriate, at critical stages of the process.

The open consultation was framed based on the suggestions received during the workshop. It aims at collecting scientific and local/traditional knowledge, experience and best practices, views and perspectives, suggestions and recommendations on primary forest conservation and on the application of innovative technologies in forestry and forest management in the Asia-Pacific region.

The consultation is open till November 15th, 2020 NOW EXTENDED UNTIL 15 DECEMBER!

Participate to the Online Consultation!

Young people will be the managers and decision-makers of tomorrow. They have shown their capacity to generate and spearhead trans-national mobilization to address environmental challenges, such as climate change, and advance sustainable development. They can be instrumental in shaping a sustainable future by taking leadership roles and generating momentum through collaboration and social media, and by transforming rigid institutions from within and participating to the uptake and upscale of innovative technologies in the forest sector.

This is why FAO and FTA decided to organize a competition to encourage contributions from students and young people engaged in activities related to the forest sector in the Asia-Pacific region. Youth are invited to share their experience, expectations and recommendations regarding the use of innovative technologies to advance sustainable forest management in Asia and the Pacific. This competition will take place in two steps: (1) call for abstracts, (2) development of the selected contributions.

The call for abstracts is open till November 15th, 2020 NOW EXTENDED UNTIL 15 DECEMBER!

Youth from the Asia-Pacific are encouraged to submit their abstracts!

The main findings and recommendations of the two roadmaps, as well as the best youth papers, will be presented and discussed during a regional multi-stakeholder workshop possibly organized back-to-back to the XV World Forestry Congress to be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea (24-28 May 2021).

The final objective is to publish the technical paper and the corresponding policy brief by end November 2021.

[1] FAO. 2019. Forest futures – Sustainable pathways for forests, landscapes and people in the Asia Pacific region. Asia-Pacific Forest Sector Outlook Study III. Bangkok. 352 pp. http://www.fao.org/3/ca4627en/ca4627en.pdf

This article was produced by the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA). FTA is the world’s largest research for development program to enhance the role of forests, trees and agroforestry in sustainable development and food security and to address climate change. CIFOR leads FTA in partnership with Bioversity International, CATIE, CIRAD, INBAR, ICRAF and TBI. FTA’s work is supported by the CGIAR Trust Fund.

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Calls for greater momentum on forest initiatives, from REDD+ to ecotourism, at APRS 2018


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Tribudi Syukur village in Lampung, Indonesia, is seen from above. Photo by N. Sujana/CIFOR
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Tribudi Syukur village in Lampung, Indonesia, is seen from above. Photo by N. Sujana/CIFOR

Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region on earth, and home to the world’s three largest cities. Yet it also contains 740 million hectares of forests, accounting for 26 percent of the region’s land area and 18 percent of forest cover globally.

More than 450 million people depend on these forests for their livelihoods.

Through the theme “Protecting forests and people, supporting economic growth,” the third Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (APRS) examined how the region’s economic and social development can better integrate with climate change and carbon emissions reduction goals.

Following the first APRS held in Sydney in 2014 and the second in Brunei Darussalam in 2016, this year’s was the largest yet, held in the Javanese cultural center of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. From April 23–25, more than 1,200 representatives from academia, civil society, business, government and research institutions gathered for panels, discussions, workshops and field trips.

Regional leaders formed the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Partnership (APRP) and its biannual Summit to help realize the global goal of ending rainforest loss by 2030, as well as reduce poverty through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), carbon emissions through REDD+, and climate change through the Paris Agreement – as discussed in the Summit’s first day of high-level panels.

Read also: FTA at the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit

“Since the summit in Brunei, I am happy to see substantial progress on REDD+ both regionally and globally,” said Australian Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg in the opening ceremony. “We need to maintain this momentum and step up the pace of change if we are going to protect our forests and our people while securing economic growth.”

As the host country – supported the Australian Government, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) – Indonesia highlighted its recent environmental achievements.

“In the last three years, we have managed to reduce the [annual] deforestation rate from 1.09 million hectares to 610,000 hectares, and 480,000 million hectares in 2017,” said Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya.

“We realize that forests are a major contributor to carbon emissions, mainly due to forest fires – especially in peatlands. Forests represent 18% of our national emissions reduction targets and are expected to contribute to over half of our [Paris Agreement] targets.”

CIFOR’s Daniel Murdiyarso speaks during a session on restoration and sustainable management of peatlands at the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit 2018. Photo by U. Ifansasti/CIFOR

Minister Nurbaya also pointed to community and social forestry as a major theme of the Summit. Indonesia has set a target to allocate some 12.7 million hectares of land for use by communities partaking in five social forestry schemes. Nurbaya said she hopes other countries are similarly prioritizing community-based forestry management.

Community forestry was one of the sub-themes highlighted in the second day’s expert panels, alongside restoration and sustainable management of peatlands, mangroves and blue carbon, ecotourism and conservation of biodiversity, production forests, and forest finance, investment and trade. Issues in focus are detailed below.

PRIVATE FINANCE

Speakers throughout the Summit echoed the need for increased private-sector support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – and policies that help enable this.

Companies need more incentives – and assurance of profitability – if they are to balance their business activities with ecological protection and support to local communities. Similarly, there needs to be proof of returns in order to increase private investment in environmental efforts.

The commitment of USD 500 million by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) was highlighted as a best-practice example. Announced in May 2017, the pledge is now being used to back select business proposals that creatively address climate change.

Juan Chang, a GCF senior specialist in forest and land use and panel speaker at the Summit, said the Fund’s forestry and land use portfolio of 10 funded projects around the world so far includes 2 REDD+ projects.

Within GCF’s portfolio as a whole, around a third of its USD 3.7 billion goes to projects in the Asia-Pacific region.

REDD+ AND FORESTS

This year’s APRS comes roughly a decade after the UNFCCC COP13 in Bali gave birth to REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation), an initiative that – much as its name says – seeks to lower global carbon emissions by preserving tropical forests.

As its goals broadened to give more attention to sustainable forest management and carbon stocks, REDD became REDD+, which now has numerous development and research projects running throughout the region.

Indonesia’s Minister of Environment and Forestry, HE Siti Nurbaya, opens the 3rd Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit. Photo by U. Ifansasti/CIFOR

Around 2 billion hectares of Asia-Pacific forests are degraded, and research experts expressed that production forests – such as those used for bioenergy – hold new opportunities for REDD+ implementation.

Contrasting this, however, was the difficulty some countries’ delegates said they’re facing in setting the many pieces in place required to uphold such a detailed effort as REDD+.

While Indonesia and Papua New Guinea now have much of the REDD+ architecture up and running, both countries have met roadblocks in implementing emissions measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems as well as results-based payments mechanisms.

Emma Rachmawaty, Director of Climate Change at Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said, “We are in the process of establishing a financial institution to manage financing for REDD+. [Until then] we cannot implement results-based payments for REDD+.”

Danae Maniatis from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) analogized REDD+ framework construction with that of a building.

“Pillars for REDD+ need to be really strong at the readiness phase,” she said. “If you have a house that has a roof but nothing else, would you use it? No. You need it to be functional. So, the challenge that we face is: how do you take these elements and make them functional?”

Read also: Social forestry impacts local livelihoods in Indonesia

NEW WAYS TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE

Mangroves and blue carbon – carbon captured and stored in oceans and coastal areas – have been hot topics of late.

“There is one ecosystem that has been close to my heart for a long time, that encompasses all the issues you can think of for forests: peatlands and mangroves,” said CIFOR Director General Dr. Robert Nasi.

“Although they represent a small percentage of forests, they are probably the richest and most carbon-rich ecosystems in the world – and the most threatened. I can only encourage and commend Indonesia for all the efforts they’re doing in terms of restoring and rehabilitating peatlands and mangroves.”

Comparatively little research has been done on these ecosystems so far. But the vast carbon sinks of Indonesia’s mangroves – the largest in the world, spanning 3.5 million hectares – have begun to make their way onto the archipelago’s national agenda, potentially contributing to the country’s commitments to the Paris Agreement and becoming grounds for financial support to local communities through payment for ecosystem services (PES).

Another way to link local communities to financial institutions and global markets? Ecotourism – responsible recreational activities that encourage conservation and preserve biodiversity.

Panelists called for philanthropic foundations and development organizations to give this growing sector more attention. In the realm of sustainable development business ventures, ecotourism is an on-the-ground way to aid land rehabilitation and biodiversity conservation while still turning a profit – however small that profit may be.

This echoed Dr. Nasi’s opening ceremony statement that the Asia-Pacific region is “a region of superlatives and a region of many contrasts,” with a vast array of businesses, landscapes, socioeconomic levels and governments.

Yet, everyone attending the summit “comes together for one reason: because forests matter.”

By Nabiha Shahab, originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News.

This research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, which is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors.

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How the Asia-Pacific is developing systems for measurement, reporting and verification


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Photo: Muhammad Nadzrin Abdullah/CIFOR
Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park, Brunei Darussalam, is one example of the valuable natural heritage of the Asia-Pacific region. Photo by Muhammad Nadzrin Abdullah

By Catriona Croft-Cusworth, originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News

Asia-Pacific nations are some of the world’s most vulnerable to the effects of global climate change. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events and impacts on food security threaten the densely populated and rapidly developing nations throughout the region.

However, this region also holds some of the world’s greatest potential for climate change mitigation through the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus the conservation and sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks – what’s known as REDD+.

Now that the Paris Agreement has affirmed a role in the global climate change agenda for REDD+, a major challenge moving forward is finding accurate and transparent methods for the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of the contribution of forests to reducing global emissions.

Regional leaders had the opportunity to share experiences in designing systems for MRV at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (APRS) held from 3-4 August in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.

At a session titled ‘Keeping track of forests: systems for measurement, reporting and verification’, speakers had the chance to compare notes from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Indonesia and Australia on developing national systems for MRV.

REGIONAL (AND GLOBAL) PIONEERS

Papua New Guinea is a global pioneer of REDD+, having introduced the concept together with Costa Rica at COP 11 in 2011. Home to the world’s third largest area of tropical rainforest after the Amazon and the Congo Basin, the country holds huge potential for REDD+.

This year, Papua New Guinea launched a public web portal to disseminate information on its national forest monitoring system.

Alfred Rungol, Acting Manager of MRV at Papua New Guinea’s Climate Change Development Authority, said he hoped the portal would bring greater transparency and better results for the country’s REDD+ processes.

“The establishment of a national forest monitoring system is a key element of REDD+,” he said in his presentation. “PNG needs to improve understanding of its forest and monitoring capacity for sustainable management and conservation.”

Indonesia, another early adopter of MRV systems in the region, has set up a detailed MRV system that generates information on past, present and future greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land-based activities under the Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System, or INCAS.

Haruni Krisnawati is one of the leading technical developers of INCAS, and a senior researcher in the Research, Development and Innovation Agency within the Indonesian Government Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

She shared Indonesia’s experience, calling the development of INCAS an important first step toward reaching the country’s ambitious targets on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions.

As Haruni explained in her presentation, INCAS is designed as a ‘tier 3’ GHG accounting system, meaning that it aims to implement the most sophisticated method outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its 2006 guidelines.

This means that it is “scalable and uses the best available data,” she explained, including data on country-specific technology-based emission factors.

MRV? THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT

Meanwhile, other nations in the Asia-Pacific are facing steeper challenges in introducing national systems for MRV.

Samuela Lagataki, Permanent Secretary of Fiji’s Ministry of Fisheries and Forests, said that his country faced serious challenges in accessing baseline data, coming up with measures and using datasets.

“We have found significant gaps due to a lack of capacity,” he said.

But help is at hand for Fiji and other nations in the region trying to navigate the complex procedure of establishing an MRV system.

The Australia-based Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) has designed an application called REDDcompass, launched in April this year, which aims to guide users through the process of designing an MRV systems tailored to a specific nation’s needs.

On the second day of the Summit, Carly Green, Methods and Guidance Component Manager at GFOI, gave a live demonstration of REDDcompass, taking regional leaders through the process of “climbing the MRV mountain”, starting from the base of institutional arrangement and policy decisions, moving upward to measurement and estimation, and finally reaching the stage of reporting and verification.

GFOI is now working with consultants in Lao PDR to develop a REDD+ framework in that country. It’s hoped that the REDDcompass application can help to assess progress so far and identify priorities for moving forward.

“More countries are using freely available data. But there’s still a need to understand what’s going on within those pixels,” Green said.

“REDDcompass basically takes the guesswork out of what you have to do.”

This research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

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  • View from the Pacific: ‘Climate change is real’

View from the Pacific: ‘Climate change is real’


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Malinau, East Kalimantan - Indonesia, 2008. ©Center For International Forestry Research/Douglas Sheil
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Asia Pacific – Pacific island leaders expressed their concerns about climate change in the region at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit, held from 3-5 August in Brunei Darussalam.

Government representatives from Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu spoke about the dangers of rising sea levels and extreme weather events for Pacific island nations, and urged the region to take action by conserving forests for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Leaders also pledged their commitment to conserving forests for better local resilience to climate change, among other benefits.

“Forests will continue to play a vital role in many countries within the Asia-Pacific region in contributing to national economic development, food security, employment and in supporting livelihoods in rural areas,” said Osea Naiqamu, Fiji’s Minister for Fisheries and Forests.

“Climate change is real for Fiji. Not only for Fiji, but for small islands states like Kiribati, Tuvalu, all those other small island states in the Pacific,” he added.

Hear more from Pacific island leaders in the video below:

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This topic was featured at the
Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit
3-5 August 2016
See event details here

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Source: Forests News English

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