No-Hopenhagen? Moving onwards and upwards from the last round of climate change debates...

Copenhagen that was dubbed ‘Hopenhagen' on billboards around the city in December, turned out in the end to be ‘No-Hopenhagen'. The 15th Conference of the Parities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to use its full name - was one of the largest environmental gatherings in history. RFUK was there to make sure that the voices of forest peoples could not be ignored.

Unfortunately, the end result was a backroom deal by a few countries, the so-called ‘Copenhagen Accord' which left almost all the substantial issues undecided, and crucially did not set targets or timetables for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The much talked about global deal on forests - REDD or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation - which would pay rainforest nations for keeping their forest standing, was also not finalised. A new deadline for agreement on a global deal on climate, including on avoiding deforestation, has been set for December this year. (**Read background to REDD at the bottom of this page.)

The promise of REDD to protect forests and the people who depend on them, has the potential to fall flat and become a threat rather than an opportunity if the scheme is poorly designed. Crucially, if indigenous peoples and local communities are not properly consulted and their rights are not respected, the influx of new money into the forest sector could be a disaster. Nat Dyer our Policy Advisor on Forests and Climate, supported three forest campaigners from the Congo Basin to travel to Copenhagen to get their message to those making decisions that could affect their future.

Our work included putting our concerns directly to negotiators from the EU, USA and other ‘rainforest nations', and organising events to highlight the need for ‘rights in REDD' (for example, good consultations with indigenous communities about proposed REDD projects on their land and respecting their rights), and getting our partners' messages out to the media. RFUK also helped to ensure that crucial environmental and social safeguards in the draft REDD agreement were not watered down or scrapped altogether. Read the full RFUK REDD Policy Position here.

Nat Dyer is also just back from a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the country is preparing a national ‘REDD' plan to protect their standing forests, as are other countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Money from the World Bank and the UN is already starting to flow, but civil society organisations in the DRC need to speak out to ensure that the funds do not go to vested political or economic interests which could result in more forest being cleared not less. RFUK is working with our sister organisation Rainforest Foundation Norway to support local NGOs to push for a fair and ambitious deal for forest-dependent peoples. We have been strongly arguing against logging companies and agribusinesses benefiting from REDD funds.

Nat returns from the field

Back from his recent trip to DRC we took a few minutes to catch up with Nat and ask a few burning questions.

How was the trip?

"It was great to be invited to be part of the official UN and World Bank discussions on the DRC REDD plan. However, we saw the influence of the logging industry and agribusinesses in the plan which, though it is supposedly about preventing deforestation, includes the opening up of 10 million hectares of rainforest for logging, and the conversion of forest to new oil palm plantations. It was very inspiring to work with our partners from the local NGO the Natural Resources Network, and we ended up with an improved REDD plan at the end of the week."

What was the feeling amongst RFUK partners and NGOs as Copenhagen came to a close?

"The most common feeling was total exhaustion! We had spent just short of two weeks working all hours of the day - and sometimes night - to try to follow and influence the negotiations on forests, and to bring the realities on the ground to decision-makers. There was also disappointment that countries had not seized this opportunity to put the world on a more sustainable course."

"There were some positives: the final text on REDD, which will be used for the basis of talks in 2010, would have been far weaker if NGOs had not been there to keep up the pressure; and some of our partners were invited onto official country delegations as civil society observers and made a great difference."

It was quite uncanny that we had the coldest winter for over 20 years

"Of course we need to recognise the difference between weather and climate, and also that a cold period in the UK doesn't mean the same thing is happening everywhere. The Winter Olympics in Vancouver have been hampered by unseasonally mild weather, for example."

"Preserving rainforests is crucial for climate change, as they stock enormous amounts of carbon, but they also provide us with other ‘eco-system services' such as creating rainfall that has been estimated to be worth billions of dollars in terms of the agriculture that depends on it. More important still are the services they provide to indigenous peoples and local communities who often rely on the produce of the forest for their daily subsidence, without mentioning the amazing biodiversity of tropical rainforests."

"Although I've come across a few climate change sceptics, I've yet to meet someone who doubts that vast areas of tropical forest are cleared every year. Climate change is not the only reason to keep forests standing, but scientists tell us that the Eastern Amazon and other areas could gradually lose all their trees with the projected temperature rises, so it's crucial we deal with the larger problems as well."

What are you up to in the next few months?

"The Rainforest Foundation will be following the REDD process in the Democratice Republic of Congo and other African countries this year. Later on in the year we will bring together local organisations from five countries in the Congo Basin for a workshop that will allow them to exchange experience and learn how best to influence REDD processes and engage in REDD activities."
"RFUK are also working with many other organisations from Europe, South America, Africa and Asia on a report showing how forest communities can help reduce deforestation and the resulting carbon emissions. We will launch this report at the next international climate summit, in June."

**REDD Background
Forest destruction generates between 12-15% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year. REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation of tropical forests) is a way of paying poor countries, such as those in the Congo Basin, to protect their rainforest. For the programme to work it is vital that local communities participate in the development of national REDD plans.