At the Bonn Climate Change Conference, IUCN and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) co-hosted a side event on the contribution of forest landscape restoration (FLR) to the achievement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Photo: Photo by IISD/ENB | Angeles Estrada
The event which took place on May 17 had in the panel representatives of the Ministries of Environment of Indonesia and Brazil, and experts from IIASA and IUCN.
The discussion centred on how FLR contributes to reducing emissions and enhancing carbon stocks in forest landscapes, while encompassing multiple and integrative co-benefits including increasing adaptation and resilience, facilitating sustainable rural development and enhancing climate-smart investments.
Nur Nasripatin, Director General for Climate Change for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia, highlighted the important role of forests and land-use sector in the country’s efforts to reduce GHG emissions representing 17.2% of the 29% reduction target relative to the business-as-usual scenario (BAU) by 2030.
Leticia Guimaraes, Climate Change and Forests Manager at the Ministry of Environment of Brazil, shared that country’s experiences with REDD+, and presented a number of national instruments – such as the Forest Code and the national plan for recovery of native vegetation - to support the implementation of Brazil’s Nationally Determined Contribution, including the target to reforest and recover 12 million hectares of land.
Experts Florian Kraxner and Ping Yowargana from IIASA, discussed estimates of degraded land and their potential to be restored, and the RESTORE+ project aiming to identify degraded land, and assessing the implications of different definitions of degraded land, among other things. Further, strategies for engaging actors in data collection and verification were presented and detailed.
María García Espinosa, IUCN’s Senior Forest Policy Officer and Climate Change Specialist, highlighted IUCN’s Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology (ROAM) and stressed FLR’s socioeconomic benefits as increased ecological functionality across degraded forest landscapes improves the well-being of forest-dependent communities.
Closing remarks were given by Ruth Irlen, from the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) of Germany. She underscored that the Bonn Challenge is about “enabling informed decision making” and she identified, among other things, the development of sustainable restoration models that meet national needs as a key to meeting the targets of the Bonn Challenge.
The event was moderated by Sandeep Sengupta, Global Coordinator, IUCN Climate Change Portfolio.
More details about the side event is available at the Earth Negotiations Bulletin
