Our Story
Our Story
So Far
Kevin Conrad of Papua New Guinea and Federica Bietta of Italy – two bold MBA graduate students at Columbia University– took on a challenge to change the world for the better. Inspired by a call to action by Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Kevin and Federica posed themselves the question of how to conserve the planet’s rainforests and bring equity to people around the world.
Their thesis: make trees worth more alive than dead. After all, rainforests provide a natural service for free; they absorb carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas primarily responsible for climate change, and stop its release into the atmosphere. Dr. Geoffrey Heal, an economics professor at Columbia University, had written about nature and its role in the marketplace. What if the world attributed a financial value to that natural service? The largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions could then pay for this service provided by the rainforests in countries hardest hit by the effects of climate change, slowing the acceleration of climate change and global inequity.
Kevin and Federica dubbed their effort Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (RED).As with many paradigm-shifting ideas, people were initially skeptical. But Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, an advisor, wasn’t! Neither was the government of Costa Rica, whose tropical forests represented 1% of the planet’s total. That December, after securing the formal support of Costa Rican government, the newfound Coalition travelled to the United Nations Climate Summit in Montreal, Canada, for the opportunity to be heard on a global stage.
The effort to revalue rainforests came to a head in 2007 at the United Nations Climate Summit in Bali. There was a stalemate between developed and developing countries on agreeing to a global climate action plan–the predecessor of the Paris Agreement. In the final hours of the summit, the United States refused to agree to the plan. In a session with over 190 countries, CfRN’s Executive Director, Kevin Conrad, who was also acting as the Ambassador and Special Envoy on Climate Change for Papua New Guinea at the time and leading negotiations for rainforest nations, politely said:
“I would ask the United States, we ask for your leadership, we seek your leadership. But if for some reason you’re not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way.”
Applause erupted around the room, and within the day, the lead American representative dropped the objection and said
“We will go forward and join consensus today.”
As a result, REDD+, which now included sustainable management of forests, conservation of forest carbon stocks, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks, was successfully formalized for the first time within the Bali Global Climate Action Plan. The first substantial decision on REDD+ was adopted, calling for demonstration activities to show how REDD+ would work in practice and be reported.
In Copenhagen in 2009, the world finally seemed on a course to achieve a global climate agreement. Many heads of state flew to Denmark on the last days of the Climate Summit, including President Obama of the United States and Premier Wen Jiabo of China. Yet again, the world couldn’t agree fully on what to do about the climate emergency.
REDD+ was the only success that year. Rainforest nations were now required to introduce national forest monitoring systems, with elements of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). Coalition nations began to prepare national REDD+ strategies, develop domestic capacity, establish forest and forest carbon reference levels, and create a participatory approach with “full and effective engagement of indigenous peoples and local communities in monitoring and reporting.”
In 2010, a deflated world gathered again to pick up climate talks at the United Nations Summit in Cancun, Mexico and put more pressure on rainforest nations to show accountability. A United Nations decision was made with a request that environmental and social safeguards be introduced for REDD+ and a reiteration of requirements for the national forest monitoring system. These country safeguards would ensure that implementation of REDD+ at the national level did not lead to detrimental effects on the environment or the local population. Rainforest nations were required to provide summaries of information on how these safeguards were implemented.
Even after the Cancun Summit, the developed countries dragged their feet on REDD+. Many groups found reasons why it wouldn’t work and kept blocking progress. Then, in December 2013, the Climate Summit in Warsaw, Poland produced seven decisions on REDD+, known jointly as the “Warsaw Framework on REDD-plus”. These decisions addressed results-based finance for the first time after years of discussion regarding national forest monitoring systems; information on safeguards; technical assessment of reference (emission) levels; modalities for measuring, reporting, and verifying (MRV); and information on addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Eligibility for access to “results-based finance” was finally on the agenda and an overall framework for REDD+ implementation was completed, although many details still needed to be provided.
After over a decade of persistence, and with over 50 rainforest countries in support, the Coalition of Rainforest Nations finally succeeded in establishing REDD+ within a global climate agreement between the members of the United Nations. The remaining outstanding decisions on REDD+ were also completed at the Summit. These included decisions on reporting on the safeguards, non-market approaches, and non-carbon benefits; the rulebook on REDD+ was completed.
All countries were encouraged to implement and support REDD+ in Article 5 of the Paris Agreement. This was part of a broader article that specified that all countries should take action to protect and enhance their greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs, not only the rainforests.
The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Paris in December 2015, successfully concluded 10 years of negotiations on the new global climate regime.
After many years of intense negotiations that started in Montreal at COP11 in 2004, all Parties adopted the Paris Agreement, which is now the foundation of the global fight against the climate emergency. For the Coalition and REDD+ the next advocacy challenge would be Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Kevin Conrad of Papua New Guinea and Federica Bietta of Italy – two bold MBA graduate students at Columbia University– took on a challenge to change the world for the better. Inspired by a call to action by Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Kevin and Federica posed themselves the question of how to conserve the planet’s rainforests and bring equity to people around the world.
Their thesis: make trees worth more alive than dead. After all, rainforests provide a natural service for free; they absorb carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas primarily responsible for climate change, and stop its release into the atmosphere. Dr. Geoffrey Heal, an economics professor at Columbia University, had written about nature and its role in the marketplace. What if the world attributed a financial value to that natural service? The largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions could then pay for this service provided by the rainforests in countries hardest hit by the effects of climate change, slowing the acceleration of climate change and global inequity.
Kevin and Federica dubbed their effort Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (RED).As with many paradigm-shifting ideas, people were initially skeptical. But Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, an advisor, wasn’t! Neither was the government of Costa Rica, whose tropical forests represented 1% of the planet’s total. That December, after securing the formal support of Costa Rican government, the newfound Coalition travelled to the United Nations Climate Summit in Montreal, Canada, for the opportunity to be heard on a global stage.
The effort to revalue rainforests came to a head in 2007 at the United Nations Climate Summit in Bali. There was a stalemate between developed and developing countries on agreeing to a global climate action plan–the predecessor of the Paris Agreement. In the final hours of the summit, the United States refused to agree to the plan. In a session with over 190 countries, CfRN’s Executive Director, Kevin Conrad, who was also acting as the Ambassador and Special Envoy on Climate Change for Papua New Guinea at the time and leading negotiations for rainforest nations, politely said:
“I would ask the United States, we ask for your leadership, we seek your leadership. But if for some reason you’re not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way.”
Applause erupted around the room, and within the day, the lead American representative dropped the objection and said
“We will go forward and join consensus today.”
As a result, REDD+, which now included sustainable management of forests, conservation of forest carbon stocks, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks, was successfully formalized for the first time within the Bali Global Climate Action Plan. The first substantial decision on REDD+ was adopted, calling for demonstration activities to show how REDD+ would work in practice and be reported.
In Copenhagen in 2009, the world finally seemed on a course to achieve a global climate agreement. Many heads of state flew to Denmark on the last days of the Climate Summit, including President Obama of the United States and Premier Wen Jiabo of China. Yet again, the world couldn’t agree fully on what to do about the climate emergency.
REDD+ was the only success that year. Rainforest nations were now required to introduce national forest monitoring systems, with elements of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). Coalition nations began to prepare national REDD+ strategies, develop domestic capacity, establish forest and forest carbon reference levels, and create a participatory approach with “full and effective engagement of indigenous peoples and local communities in monitoring and reporting.”
In 2010, a deflated world gathered again to pick up climate talks at the United Nations Summit in Cancun, Mexico and put more pressure on rainforest nations to show accountability. A United Nations decision was made with a request that environmental and social safeguards be introduced for REDD+ and a reiteration of requirements for the national forest monitoring system. These country safeguards would ensure that implementation of REDD+ at the national level did not lead to detrimental effects on the environment or the local population. Rainforest nations were required to provide summaries of information on how these safeguards were implemented.
Even after the Cancun Summit, the developed countries dragged their feet on REDD+. Many groups found reasons why it wouldn’t work and kept blocking progress. Then, in December 2013, the Climate Summit in Warsaw, Poland produced seven decisions on REDD+, known jointly as the “Warsaw Framework on REDD-plus”. These decisions addressed results-based finance for the first time after years of discussion regarding national forest monitoring systems; information on safeguards; technical assessment of reference (emission) levels; modalities for measuring, reporting, and verifying (MRV); and information on addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Eligibility for access to “results-based finance” was finally on the agenda and an overall framework for REDD+ implementation was completed, although many details still needed to be provided.Make it stand out.
After over a decade of persistence, and with over 50 rainforest countries in support, the Coalition of Rainforest Nations finally succeeded in establishing REDD+ within a global climate agreement between the members of the United Nations. The remaining outstanding decisions on REDD+ were also completed at the Summit. These included decisions on reporting on the safeguards, non-market approaches, and non-carbon benefits; the rulebook on REDD+ was completed.
All countries were encouraged to implement and support REDD+ in Article 5 of the Paris Agreement. This was part of a broader article that specified that all countries should take action to protect and enhance their greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs, not only the rainforests.
The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Paris in December 2015, successfully concluded 10 years of negotiations on the new global climate regime.
After many years of intense negotiations that started in Montreal at COP11 in 2004, all Parties adopted the Paris Agreement, which is now the foundation of the global fight against the climate emergency. For the Coalition and REDD+ the next advocacy challenge would be Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
