Forests as a leading front in nature-based climate solutions, was the key message of the United Nations Climate Action Summit Side Event “Catalysing forest solutions to the climate emergency” organized by the UN-REDD Programme. The event took place as a part of the four-day Nature4Climate Hub, focusing on showcasing climate solutions for forests, soils, food and agriculture, freshwater, ocean and marine ecosystems and wildlife. At the 2008 UN Climate Change Summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg launched the UN-REDD Programme. Precisely eleven years later, the UN-REDD Side Events marks the eve of the 2019...

Promoting zero deforestation agriculture, the case of cocoa farming (agroforestry)

A one-day Steering Committee Meeting took place in Dakar, Senegal on 25 September to discuss the activities under the project “Global transformation of forests for people and climate: A focus on West Africa”. Supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the five-year project aims at protecting West Africa's forests and safeguarding the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on them.   Held on the premises of FAO Subregional Office for West Africa, the meeting gathered the representatives from the three organization...

For the first time, the UN-REDD Programme is launching an Annual Report website. The website presents the results of the UN-REDD Programme between January and December 2018, in the context of the considerable cumulative accomplishments of its partner countries over the past decade. With partner countries making progress on REDD+ readiness, the UN-REDD Programme has increasingly focused on responding to country demands and needs for technical assistance in implementing REDD+ and supporting commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. As of December 2018, the UN-REDD Programme had enabled 65 partner countries across Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the...

Scenes of flooding and storms can show us just how much weather and climate affects our lives. Climate change threatens our ability to ensure global food security, eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development. The global response to climate change today will determine how we feed future generations tomorrow. To combat climate change and its impacts, the Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries representing their commitment to limit the rise of the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius. To reach this goal, each country has developed individual climate commitments, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). But how can countries...