11
1 FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE Don Wijewardana United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat

FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

  • Upload
    taite

  • View
    38

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE. Don Wijewardana United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat. SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT AND THE U.N. World concern over rapid loss of forest cover led to UNCED in 1992 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Citation preview

Page 1: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

1

FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE

CHANGE

Don WijewardanaUnited Nations Forum on Forests

Secretariat

Page 2: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

2

SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT AND THE U.N.

• World concern over rapid loss of forest cover led to UNCED in 1992

• IPF (1995-97) and IFF (1997-2000) produced 270 proposals for action to help achieve SFM

• UNFF was set up in 2000.

• First five years of UNFF limited progress in SFM.

Page 3: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

3

NON-LEGALLY BINDING INSTRUMENT ON FORESTS (NLBI)

• In 2006-2007 intense negotiations on the way forward

• GA/UNFF adopted the NLBI• Aims of the NLBI to:

a) implement SFM, and

b) make progress in achieving 4 global objectives

Page 4: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

4

FOUR GLOBAL OBJECTIVES

1. Reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide

2. Enhance forest based economic, social and environmental benefits

3. Increase significantly the area of protected forests worldwide, and

4. Reverse the decline in ODA for SFM and mobilize significantly increased additional financial resources from all sources for SFM

Page 5: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

5

UNFF AND CLIMATE CHANGE

• Forests and climate change closely linked

– Carbon sequestration one of many functions of forests

– Forests as a cause and impact

– Forests in mitigation and adaptation

• NLBI is aimed at SFM, therefore include climate aspects

• UNFF8 next year will address forests and climate change specifically.

FAO/ Faidutti/CFU000368

Page 6: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

6

MONITORING, ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING (MAR)

• UNFF emphasis on well developed MAR system (e.g. C&I)

• C&I Processes are international and regional voluntary organisations promoting SFM (e.g. MPCI, MCPFE, ITTO)

• Cover all aspects of SFM – 7 themes and over 67 indicators

• They all have indicators relating to carbon absorption role of forests.

Page 7: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

7

CLIMATE CHANGE RELATED INDICATORS OF C&I PROCESSES

• ITTO criterion 4.4: Total amount of carbon stored in forest stands;

• Montreal Process criterion 5: Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles;

• MCPFE Indicator 1.4: Carbon stock of woody biomass and of soils on forest and other wooded land.

Page 8: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

8

LOOKING AT THE FUTURE

• DSD’s paper useful background for examining climate change issues in the context of sustainable development

• UNFF working with FAO and other CPF members to develop indicators for monitoring progress in achievement of NLBI.

• Forests are a key sector for climate change mitigation (carbon sinks, reduced deforestation and degradation)

• So, it is possible to use a number of the indicators that are being considered for NLBI, for climate change purposes.

Page 9: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

9

SOME PROPOSED INDICATORS

Indicator Potential to measure

Extent of forest and other wooded land

Carbon sinks, potential reduced emissions

Forest area under sustainable management

Reduced emissions, enhanced sequestration

Biomass stock (above ground, below ground, deadwood)

Amount of carbon

Carbon stock Changes over time

Forest degradation (need measurable indicators

Level of emissions

Page 10: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

10

CONCLUSIONS

• Aim of UNFF is to promote global SFM

• There are no climate change-specific indicators in the NLBI

• But a number of the forestry related indicators can be used for this purpose

• Working in cooperation will help develop forest based indicators to bridge other gaps.

• C&I Processes also have useful indicators.

FAO/ Faidutti/CFU000820

Page 11: FOREST MONITORING IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

11

Thank You

United Nations Forum on Forests

www.un.org/esa/forests

FAO/ Faidutti/CFU000304