Interview with GTZ Head of Divsion Dr. Stephan Paulus on forest conservation and climate protection

Climate protection has been on everyone's lips since the climate change conference in Bali last December, if not before. One way of preventing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is to protect the world's remaining forests from destruction, since they act as our planet's green lungs and bind enormous quantities of carbon, as do the world's oceans. The international debate on preventing deforestation is now focusing on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). The new Environment and Climate Change Division headed by Stephan Paulus issued invitations to a workshop on this topic at the beginning of February. Over 120 participants came to discuss the development potential offered by climate protection through forest conservation, among other issues.

In this interview, Stephan Paulus outlines the opportunities for protecting our climate by preventing deforestation, informs us on the current status of the international debate and the contribution GTZ can make.

"Forest and climate change" has so far been more of a niche topic in the public perception, so judging by the number of participants at your event, the interest was considerable. How do you explain this change of heart?

Yes, the interest was in fact remarkable. We had participants from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and  the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV), from a number of research and teaching institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the consulting industry.
 
There are good reasons why deforestation is no longer a niche theme. The greenhouse gas emissions it causes make up about 20 percent of global emissions and one fifth of the greenhouse effect. That comes very close to emissions from power generation (25 percent), which everyone has been talking about. And deforestation mainly takes place in developing countries, so these countries introduced the topic two years ago into the international climate change negotiations. REDD was in fact one of the central themes at the last climate conference in Bali, Indonesia. The host country itself had good reason for presenting this topic, as an estimated 80 percent of Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions are caused by forest and peat fires. That makes Indonesia the third-largest emitter after the USA and China.

What concrete interest did the various participant groups show, and what was the outcome of the workshop?

By preventing deforestation, several other positive results can be achieved besides the effect on climate change mitigation. Preserving biodiversity is one of them. That's why many environmental organisations as well as BMU are committed to preventing deforestation. At the climate change conference in Bali, Greenpeace recently abandoned its former opposition and presented its own proposal to include preventing deforestation in the climate change regime. Since this year's Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will be held in Germany, there is a particularly high level of interest.

If REDD is indeed integrated into a climate change regime and emissions trading, preventing deforestation in developing countries will enable an enormous financial transfer from North to South. The Stern Review states a possible volume of US $ five to ten billion. Many people are therefore placing their hopes in REDD as an innovative funding mechanism capable of making a contribution to climate protection, to preserving biodiversity and also to sustainable development in richly forested developing countries, independently of official development assistance (ODA).

What is the current discussion status, and are there still questions that need to be answered?

There are plenty of questions that we discussed at length, such as how the global poverty reduction objectives and principles of sustainable development can be taken into consideration in the REDD debate, or which mechanisms can be used to distribute funds in future. We also discussed the challenges and resulting need for action by development cooperation, and how the stability of emissions trading can be ensured if REDD is included in the process.

To put it another way: How can we establish a baseline to calculate whether a positive change has taken place, i.e. whether deforestation has been prevented? How can we make sure the outputs that determine whether payments are made or emission reduction certificates are issued, are measurable and verifiable?

So there are a number of questions, but the workshop provided valuable input on where we should head in order to use the opportunities that lie before us.

 How will the debate continue?

The decision on whether and how REDD is to be included in a post-Kyoto Protocol framework will be made at the UN Climate Change Conference in Kopenhagen at the end of 2009. On behalf of BMZ, GTZ is one of the first organisations to have launched REDD pilot measures. We will assess our experience and contribute it to the international negotiation process.

26. February 2008