Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute.
REDD-plus and Forest-DRR Research and Development Center.

Background

REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, sustainable management of forest, conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks) is considered a promising global contribution for countering climate change and has been discussed to develop the international framework at the Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At COP19 held in Warsaw 2013, the "Warsaw Framework for REDD plus", which consist of 7 decisions covering technical guidance, finance, and institutional arrangement. It is a big step toward the development of the result-based payment scheme of REDD+. Many countries are currently engaged in REDD+ readiness activities: defining national strategies, developing national forest monitoring systems, carrying out stakeholders' consultations, etc., through multilateral initiatives, bilateral cooperation (including south-south), and domestic efforts.

Gap to be addressed: While enhancing capacities and raising awareness are essential to create enabling conditions for implementing REDD+, countries also have to prepare for taking actions on the ground to lead the implementation of the defined policies and measures to attain their targeted results and outcomes to contribute to tackling climate change through forest activities, in particular, through mitigation actions, without forgetting other challenges such as the importance of adaptation to climate change. However, it became clear that the implementation of the REDD+ activities is challenging, as forests, in most cases, are homes to human communities or exposed to high pressure from various factors such as agriculture expansion for food security and producing cash crops. Thus, sustainable practices have to be promoted on the ground to guarantee forest preservation and enhancement as well as sustainable livelihoods. There is a point where SFM can play an important role.

Time to take action: Many countries are exactly on the way to move up to the next phase of REDD+, where demonstration activities will be implemented while preparing for full implementation of REDD+. It is time for policies and measures to be tested and refined. Learning from and internalizing experiences and knowledge from decades of projects aiming at promoting sustainable forest management will be a key to achieve REDD+ goals on the ground, as well as to avoid past failures. Although REDD+ projects at local level are carried out in many countries and many useful insights and experiences are acquired from these projects, development of nation-wide REDD+ programmes are still underway. REDD+ programmes at national level will be developed, implemented and linked to national report and REDD+ compliance requirements. Policies, measures, and best practices are important elements to be added in these strategies. Furthermore, it is important to ensure that implementation of forest related activities on the ground at local and sub-national levels will play a key role at the demonstration phase and at the later phase, within national broader framework.

Why SFM: At the United Nations Conference of Development and Environment (the Earth Summit), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the concept of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) was proposed as a comprehensive goal of the forest sector at international, national, and local level. Since then, many efforts have been made all over the world to realize the concept. SFM is "a dynamic and evolving concept aims to maintain and enhance the economic, social and environmental value of all types of forests, for the benefit of present and future generations" [UNFF, 2007]. While, in the context of climate change mitigation, SFM could provide a ?exible, robust, credible and well-tested framework for simultaneously reducing carbon emissions, sequestering carbon, and enhancing adaptation to climate change [CPF, 2008]. At the same time, it can help supply many other social and environmental services of forests. Sharing information and experiences of the successes and failures in the past decades in SFM projects and wider activities is urgent for engaging in well informed and successful REDD+ implementation. In short, forests 'saved' by REDD, or reforested, restored, or afforested will still need to be well managed.

REDD+ and SFM in a broader landscape context: In addition, it is also important to recall that as most of the underlying causes of deforestation such as agricultural expansion, mining, and electric power developments are generated other than the forest sector, it would be unrealistic to leave the forest sector alone holding the bag for addressing the challenges. Therefore, it is important to revisit the concept of SFM from a wider view and develop its measures in the context of REDD+.

Executive summary of the seminar

Programme

Objectives

The main objective of our international seminar is to review and discuss the latest SFM approaches and activities at all scales and forest types, exploring the linkages and synergies with REDD+, with the aim of turning SFM into a mean and an opportunity for REDD+, specifically through:

• Facilitating the exchange of experiences, tools, and inspiring cases of SFM implementation that can contribute to five REDD+ activities: reducing deforestation, reducing forest degradation, sustainable management of forests, conservation, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks,
• Discussing about challenges for addressing different scales of implementation and exploring challenges caused by scaling-up from projects/demonstration activities to national scales, and
• Facilitating reflections about the role of SFM in the context of REDD+ demonstration projects and full implementation.