Quick Stop on Cancun COP- December 5

Katherine Hamilton on December 7, 2010 Comment

LULUCF:
There were no formal meetings, but plenty of closed talks among facilitators to try and deliver a comprehensible text for Monday's deliberations, which are aimed at passing a clean text on to the ministerial meeting.

REDD+

Observers continued digging in to the REDD+ components of the new draft AWG-LCA text. Negotiators are now heading into ministerial meetings to hash out some of the remaining issues including monitoring and implementation of safeguards, financial arrangements including the role of markets, the potential for sub-national accounting, and how to define the goalposts for slowing deforestation.

The Co-Chairs of the REDD+ Partnership were expected to release the final draft 2011-2012 Work Program on Sunday. Additional investigation by Ecosystem Marketplace confirmed that the major cuts we reported to the earlier draft's safeguard text were implemented not by the Secretariat, but instead by one or both of the Co-Chairs themselves. Stay tuned for additional analysis of the final draft Work Program.

Grab Bag

Mexico's President Calderon opened Forest Day with an impassioned speech on his personal connection and dedication to the trees. Many attendees were inspired... others were more cynical.