Side event: Building new alliances for sustainability in tropical states and provinces

One fourth of the world’s tropical forests are contained within the 26 states and provinces that are members of the Governors’ Climate and Forests task force (GCF). GCF members recently pledged to reduce deforestation 80% by 2020 if market signals and finance are in place. Jurisdiction-wide strategies under development within these and other territories could help achieve this pledge. They include some of the most advanced policy structures for driving the transition to low-emission rural development (LED-R), performance-based incentive systems, and multiple stakeholder processes that are bringing together communities, governments, businesses and civil society. This workshop examined the remarkable progress—and persistent obstacles—along the pathway to LED-R. The workshop featured a series of moderated panel discussions that highlighted progress by and with a range of actors, including governments, indigenous and traditional communities, the private sector, and civil society. It closed with a high-level session featuring political leaders.

*   The Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF) is a unique subnational collaboration between 26 states and provinces from Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Spain, and the United States. The GCF seeks to advance jurisdictional programs designed to promote low-emission rural development and reduced emissions from deforestation and land use (REDD+) and link these activities with emerging greenhouse gas (GHG) compliance regimes and other pay-for-performance opportunities. More than 20% of the world’s tropical forests are in GCF states and provinces, including more than 75% of Brazil’s and more than half of Indonesia’s.

*  GCF Regional Coordinators (Pronatura-Sur, Kemitraan, Idesam, CIAM).

* The Sustainable Tropics Alliance (STA) is a strategic partnership of independent, non-governmental organizations that draw on research, multi-stakeholder engagement and local knowledge to improve rural livelihoods through sustainable low emissions land use and natural resource management in key regions of the Tropics. The founding members of the Alliance are Earth Innovation Institute (leader, Brazil, Indonesia, Colombia), Pronatura-Sur (Mexico), the Instituto del Bien Comun (Peru), the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (Brazil), and the Greenbelt Movement (Kenya).  The Foundation for Environmental Law & Development is also a member of the STA.

* The Forest-Based Livelihoods Consortium (FBL) is a partnership of ten environmental and indigenous organizationsled by Forest Trends, with the support of USAID, to support forest-dependent communities to more fully contribute to and directly benefit from climate change mitigation efforts. This program is called Accelerating Inclusion and Mitigating Emissions (AIME), and operates in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Central America, and Mexico. FBL members: Forest Trends, COICA, Earth Innovation Institute, EcoDecisión, Environmental Defense Fund, Gamebey – Metareila Association of the Surui People, IPAM, PRISMA, Pronatura Sur and the Mesoamerican Alliance for Peoples and Forests.

The event was funded by NORAD, USAID and the US State Department

Agenda