Niyanta and I are in Copenhagen, Denmark to attend the climate change conferences taking place here Dec 7th – 18th. The largest of the conferences is the COP 15 (the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference). Rainforest Partnership has come to Copenhagen to participate in events and meet with other organizations that are working to conserve forests around the world. We’ve attended several events thus far and are happy to report that we’ve made some great new friends and potential partners in the forest community. You can view some of the events we’ve been to here: Klima Forum, Bright Green, Forest Day 3.
Our trip has been great so far; smooth flights, although a bit of the turbulence over the Atlantic had me gripping my seat. We left a chilly Austin on Thursday and made our way to an even colder Copenhagen on Friday afternoon. It took us a good night’s rest to adjust to the time difference and rid ourselves of the jetlag, but we were in action yesterday for the weekend events. I’ll save an overview of the events we’ve attended for the next post and tell everyone briefly why this particular COP is so important in general and, in particular, for RP’s work.
The UN Climate Change Conference is a frequent meeting between world leaders, legislators, policy-makers, business, and NGOs to decide future policy and legislation to mitigate climate change. This year’s summit in Copenhagen is of particular importance because it will hopefully mark the end of two years of dragging negotiations regarding a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement, which sets legally-binding emissions reductions targets for industrialized countries that have signed the Protocol. We have also recently seen heightened interest from the US, China and India in setting provisional emissions targets, with President Obama set to be here at the end of the Conference as well as leaders from an additional 100 other countries.
Another reason why the COP 15 is important, which is significant to RP, is the discussion and creation of REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) policies and methodologies. Until now, the UNFCCC, nor the Kyoto Protocol, have included any provisions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation. REDD is being discussed to be included in the successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol and just yesterday the UN agreed to move forward on creating and adopting a REDD methodology that can be included in a future carbon market. This is great news for the future of forest conservation as actual international government funding is now closer to a reality than ever before.
Tags: COP15, Copenhagen
