Rainforest Nations Show Leadership
at UN Climate Change Talks

After years of inaction on the second leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiators gave tropical forests and the Earth's climate a glimmer of hope. Tropical deforestation is second only to fossil fuel combustion for generating carbon emissions. The cutting and burning of 13 million hectares of tropical forests is also the leading cause of species extinctions and harms the livelihoods of some of the world's poorest communities.

Dr. Wari Iamo, Secretary for the Department of Environment and Conservation of Papua New Guinea stated that "To reach consensus on this critical, but complex subject, is an important milestone for international environmental governance. While this is an important beginning, our focus must be on opening avenues to implement change locally. This requires all nations to work together constructively in the coming years. We would like to thank the European Union, USA, Brazil, Japan and Canada for their leadership roles throughout this process."

The new proposal to combat tropical deforestation, put forth by Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica and 8 other countries, paves the way for substantial increases in funding for slowing tropical deforestation. In an informal Contact Group meeting this morning, agreement was reached for nations to develop innovative ways to finance conservation of the world's most biologically and carbon-rich biome. This development at the UN FCCC was obtained with support from US, Europe, Brazil and many others. After initial disagreements about which UN body should manage the process and over what timeline, UNFCCC Parties quickly reached agreement in informal (off-the-record) deliberations.

Papua New Guinea and the Coalition for Rainforest Nations worked together with other supportive nations to achieve this diplomatic success.

"The Coalition for Rainforest Nations worked through the UN to send a message of hope to forest communities around the world," said John O Niles, of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance. "This initiative recognizes that financial incentives are often critical to the long-term conservation of endangered ecosystems. This agreement will lead to a shared responsibility for tropical forests and opens a key dialogue on future climate change negotiations."

The draft agreements calls for countries and others to suggest new solutions to reduce emissions from ongoing tropical deforestation by March 31, 2006. Then, after suggestions are made, a technical body of the UNFCCC will lead discussions to achieve further agreement.

"We achieved a landmark legal framework to address two of the largest environmental problems of the century - tropical deforestation and climate change," said Angel Parra, who negotiated forestry issues for the Government of Paraguay.

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The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) spearheaded social and environmental standards for the emerging forest carbon market.