GLOBAL FOREST LEADERS FORUM

As popularity rose over the course of 2008 on the role of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in mitigating climate change, some involved in the debate at the international level began to lose sight of the full range of functions of the forests or the opinions of the multitude of stakeholders. To help consolidate a multi-stakeholder vision on the role of forests can play in climate change and beyond, PROFOR leant its support to the Global Forest Leaders Forum, the culmination of a nine-month dialogue process organized The Forests Dialogue.

The Forum, hosted by the World Bank and organized in collaboration with the TFD, IUCN, WRI, WBCSD brought together nearly 150 international business leaders as well as representatives of the indigenous communities, international NGOs, government representatives and the conservation community in Washington, DC. Over the course of the Forum, participants refined six agreed-upon fundamental principles on the role of sustainable forest management in climate change.

PROFOR’s contribution to this event ensured that stakeholder participation was balanced (by helping to finance the travel of Indigenous Peoples and small-holder forestry association members) and fully participatory (through translations).

The resulting multi-stakeholder consensus statement entitled “Beyond REDD: The Role of Forests in Climate Change” (click here to see the document in French, Portuguese, and Spanish), was presented at IUCN's World Congress in Barcelona in October and to delegates at the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP 14) in Poznan in December 2008. Its principles aim to influence the outcomes at COP 15 in Copenhagen in December 2009, to incorporate SFM in climate change discussions.