President of Indonesia, Susilo Yudhoyono, left, and Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg speak at press conference during the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference in Oslo, May 27, 2010.

Representatives and leaders from 52 nations met at a conference today in Oslo, Norway to work toward establishing an interim partnership arrangement for reducing emissions in developing countries from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who is hosting the conference, said that reducing deforestation could lead to the “largest, fastest and cheapest cuts in global emissions.”

Since Copenhagen in December, pledges to curb deforestation in developing nations has grown to around $4 billion. In Oslo, the representatives and leaders set up a monitoring agency to oversee the proper implementation of the aid money with hope it will encourage wealthy nations to finance forest-protecting projects by guaranteeing them transparency and non-wasteful practices.

On Wednesday, Norway pledged $1billion to Indonesia (Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono co-chaired the summit) to help preserve its rainforests as part of a deal that introduced a two-year moratorium on deforestation of its tropical forests. Norway and Indonesia hope their deal will help create momentum for future multinational agreements. Oslo’s one day Climate and Forest Conference is the final U.N. climate summit before the November 29th COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico.

For more information, you can go to the Oslo Conference’s website or read these informative articles from the The Guardian, NY Times and the AP.

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

World leaders at the Bonn climate change negotiations - photograph taken from UNFCCC website

Last weekend, the first climate change negotiations of 2010 came to a close in Bonn, Germany.  Although the meeting in Bonn was focused on determining the schedule of meetings for the rest of the year, issues of transparency and tensions leftover from Copenhagen affected these discussions.   This New York Times article gives a great summary of the meetings and the political difficulties faced by the UNFCCC.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/11/world/AP-Climate.html

Anna

Share on Facebook