May 22, 2012
- UNDP's Asia-Pacific Regional Centre and the Government of France co-organized a cartoon contest to promote country-level advocacy on climate change from a human development perspective in the Asia-Pacific region. In total, eight artists from Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines won prizes for cartoons that raise awareness of the need to address the human impacts of climate change.
Indonesia is making 'encouraging' progress on its push to reduce deforestation by improving governance over its forests and peatlands, but still needs to do more to enforce environmental laws, said the head of the country's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) task force speaking at a press conference Monday in Jakarta. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto...
Laos has been participating in the international REDD negotiation process under the UNFCCC since 2007 and recently started using multilateral negotiating blocks such as the ASEAN, G-77 and China, and LDC to support and push for an agreement on REDD. Laos’ Climate Change Strategy, National Socio-Economic Development Plan 2011-15, the Agricultural Development Strategy 2011-20 and the Agricultural Master Plan 2011-15 all indicate Laos’ interest in carbon market mechanisms and REDD+. The...
Sri Lanka was awarded observer status to the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board in October 2009. The Forest Department (FD) with support from UN-REDD is currently drafting a National Joint Programme (NJP) for building REDD readiness over the period 2011-14. Sri Lanka’s REDD Readiness Proposal is to be finalized and submitted to the UN-REDD 7th Policy Board meeting by October, 2011.
Sri Lanka has been actively engaged in the international REDD negotiation process...
China’s three main carbon markets – the Beijing Environment Exchange, Shanghai Environment Energy Exchange and Tianjin Climate Exchange – were all formed within two months of each other, towards the end of 2008. At that point, the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) was still struggling to recover from a crash a year previously, which had seen the price of carbon allowance plummet from 30 euros to just a few cents.
The World Bank estimates that carbon...
Forestry Research Associates (FRA) has stated that the signing of a sustainable forestry agreement between China, the Republic of Korea and Japan is an “extremely positive move” in the fight against desertification and deforestation.
The three nations met at the Fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting last week. They each signed an agreement to try to increase sustainable forestry management in their countries in a move that will help to bring down their carbon emissions...
The Indonesian government said on Monday it would protect a strip of peatland in Aceh province at the center of an international storm over palm oil development, in a case that had become a test of the country’s commitment to halt deforestation.
Indonesia imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest last May under a $1 billion climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, but the former governor of the country’s westernmost...
May 21, 2012
- Organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in collaboration with the Government of Thailand, this workshop aims to build capacity to address invasive alien species (IAS) and to support implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, in order to integrate activities related to the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI), as needed, into national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) in East and...
- The 68th session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will focus on a four-track strategy to promote shared, sustainable and inclusive growth in the region by promoting market integration, physical connectivity, financial cooperation and joint action to address common vulnerabilities arising from shrinking resources and climate threats. The session will comprise both a senior officials segment (17-19 May), and a ministerial segment (21-23 May). The...
- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced investments in projects worth up to €25 billion over the next three years under the new phase of the Bank’s Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI). EBRD will seek to address energy security concerns and the uncertain financial and economic context for the region in the face of climate change.