Major Step Forward in Global Efforts to Tackle Climate Change

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A significant step forward in the battle against climate change was made today with agreement from around 50 nations for the rapid deployment of more than $4bn to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) - which is responsible for more CO₂ than every motorized vehicle on the planet.

A coalition of some of the world’s leading environment and development NGOs, including Conservation International, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resource Defense Council, Rainforest Alliance, and Union of Concerned Scientists, said today that the meeting in Oslo, Norway to launch a “REDD+ Partnership” was an important move from talk to action and released the following statement:

“The launch of the REDD+ Partnership shows that countries are finally ready to move from talking about stopping deforestation and forest degradation, to taking action to address this challenge. With deforestation accounting for the same amount of global warming pollution as all the cars, trucks, ships, and planes in the world, we must turn the corner on this issue if we are to address global warming. Every second that we delay action on deforestation we lose an area the size of two football fields. Time is not on our side.

This Partnership can serve as an important venue for countries to cooperate on specific actions to address deforestation and forest degradation emissions. The world needs to ramp up its actions on deforestation and forest degradation and the REDD+ Partnership countries are central to this effort. These countries must mobilize the necessary resources, political will, and actions to achieve lasting reductions in deforestation and forest degradation emissions. We have no time to lose.

This Partnership can be a launching point for increased global effort. The global community must continue to develop a post-2012 international climate agreement, one that recognizes the critical role of reducing deforestation and degradation emissions. This Partnership represents important progress towards that goal. We look forward to working with all the countries in this Partnership to deliver effective, efficient, and transparent actions to address the emissions associated with deforestation and forest degradation. Enhancing civil society participation in the Partnership will help ensure all relevant actors are engaged in forest-related climate solutions.”

Some of the key nations involved in the partnership include:

Developing countries: Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, DRC, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, Mexico, PNG, Suriname and Vietnam.

Developed countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.

For Further information please contact:

Conservation International:
Rob McNeil
Media Director
rmcneil@conservation.org
+1 571 232 0455
+1 703 341 2561

Environmental Defense Fund‪:
Jennifer Andreassen‪
jandreassen@edf.org
‪202-572-3387

Natural Resources Defense Council:
Eric Young
Senior Press Secretary for Climate and Energy
eyoung@nrdc.org
+1 202 289-2373

Rainforest Alliance:
Abby Ray
Communications Coordinator, Media Outreach
T: 973.400.9326
F: 212.677.2187

Union of Concerned Scientists:
Aaron Huertas
Press Secretary
ahuertas@ucsusa.org
202-331-5458