The year is winding down and the top stories of 2013 in biodiversity and wetlands may be the biggest headlines of 2014 as many of them remain unresolved. The lawsuits in Louisiana over their coastal wetlands are ongoing as is the decision over how best to conserve the dwindling prairie chicken. Here’s a look back.
Major corporations continue to support voluntary carbon offset projects – especially those with good stories behind them – and 2013 ended with the encouraging news that dozens of companies are establishing an internal carbon price for use in their business planning. But will that be enough to prevent the current projects from backsliding?
Just scant weeks after COP19 in Warsaw, the World Bank’s FCPF announced a new methodological framework for its Carbon Fund. The framework unshackles nearly $390 million already committed to these programs. It also supports a jurisdictional/subnational approach that can be scaled up to the national level, an approach proven popular among funders and donor nations.
Establishing an internal carbon price is becoming standard operating practice, with 29 of the top global corporations disclosing a price on carbon pollution in the latest reports to the CDP. If more companies actually want to implement an internal carbon fee, technology giant Microsoft has some sound advice on exactly how to do it.
Three developed countries have collaborated on a new project that will funnel money on a subnational level to REDD activities and promote a landscape level of forest management. Administered by the World Bank, this new initiative differs from previous World Bank funding in that it focuses on the jurisdictional level. It will begin with Ethiopia’s Oromia state.
The World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility today approved the methodological framework for its Carbon Fund, setting the stage for the deployment of nearly $390 million to pilot performance-based conservation programs in the developing world.
Get ready for an end to the annual drama of year-end climate talks that start with optimism on forest carbon only to bog down in technical discussions that leave REDD language in limbo until it’s either rewritten in the closing days of the high-level segment or put on ice. It happened again in Warsaw, but this year’s late-session rewrite may have ended that particular drama forever.
Typhoon Haiyan recently provided a devastating reminder of the destructive power of hurricanes – a destructive power that the people of Monterrey, Mexico know all too well. That’s why they are building an investments in watershed services program designed to shield them from the worst forms of natural disaster destruction and also put a little water in the bank for dry days.
Subnational forestry pilot projects in several countries have demonstrated early success in implementing REDD, namely by securing the participation of local communities. However, these efforts are being threatened by the ongoing debate at the national and international levels on REDD+ policy and finance, which could force some promising projects to abandon the climate finance path if these issues remain unresolved.
At the COP19 climate talks in Warsaw, negotiators faced critical decisions on the future of forests. The Coalition of Rainforest Nations, led by Papua New Guinea, argued for the creation of a REDD+ body before discussing financing arrangements. Those opposed said it adds another layer of bureaucratic complexity to an already cumbersome process. In the end, a REDD package was adopted as the Coalition backed down.