Many forest experts and conservationists are saying that the inclusion of REDD+ as a standalone article -- Article 5 -- in the final agreement out of Paris sends a strong signal that the era of blithely chopping down forests for agriculture and other economic development projects is officially drawing to a close.
The agreement includes the necessary technical and scientific rules to provide a blueprint to countries looking to build forest protection plans under REDD+.er REDD+
While many experts applauded how the agreement calls for financing for REDD+, there is a need for more funds, especially from private sector.
Heading into the Paris climate talks, there was serious doubt about the long-term viability of REDD+, the UN program for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, without a major breakthrough.
The conventional wisdom, so to speak, was that REDD+ would not survive as originally envisioned if a strong deal wasn’t signed at COP21.
We now have the final Paris Agreement, and it is being hailed as a substantial, even historic, step in the right direction that just mightsignal the end of the era of fossil fuels. The international community is getting serious about lowering emissions to stop global temperatures from continuing to rise unabated — and negotiators in Paris did indeed include mechanisms for addressing deforestation as a major means of accomplishing that goal.
The new Paris Agreement calls for limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] above pre-industrial levels and for making every effort to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C [2.7 degrees F]. Since the world’s tropical forests store as much as a quarter of global carbon and are home to 96 percent of the world’s tree species, keeping them standing will be crucial.
Blog » Inclusion of REDD+ in Paris Climate Agreement Heralded as Major Step Forward on Deforestation
Inclusion of REDD+ in Paris Climate Agreement Heralded as Major Step Forward on Deforestation
Heading into the Paris climate talks, there was serious doubt about the long-term viability of REDD+, the UN program for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, without a major breakthrough.
We now have the final Paris Agreement, and it is being hailed as a substantial, even historic, step in the right direction that just mightsignal the end of the era of fossil fuels. The international community is getting serious about lowering emissions to stop global temperatures from continuing to rise unabated — and negotiators in Paris did indeed include mechanisms for addressing deforestation as a major means of accomplishing that goal.
The new Paris Agreement calls for limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] above pre-industrial levels and for making every effort to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C [2.7 degrees F]. Since the world’s tropical forests store as much as a quarter of global carbon and are home to 96 percent of the world’s tree species, keeping them standing will be crucial.
Read more...