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Natural resources specialists attending the 28th Session of the Subsidiary Bodies of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Bonn, Germany during June 2008, convened on the need to increase investment in emission reductions in the agricultural and rural development sectors. This and other important issues concerning agriculture and land use in the Kyoto Post-2012 negotiations were addressed during two side events organized by FAO’s Investment Centre Division with the Global Mechanism (GM) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The events sought to increase support for the Rome 2007 Initiative launched in November 2007 by the Centre with the GM. The Initiative is promoting public-private investments in agriculture and rural development based on existing and innovative climate change financial mechanisms and directed to sustainable land management.

The first event on “Technical and Financial Issues in Supporting REDD Processes in Low Carbon Density Forestlands,” covered degradation in forest lands in arid and semiarid zones which paves the way to desertification and threatens many poverty-stricken populations in these areas. Participants agreed that it is essential to ensure that low carbon density forestlands be included in the REDD (reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation) mechanisms to support the Kyoto negotiation process culminating in December 2009. This will be part of the web-based policy information exchange and discussion “towards the design of the Post-2012 Climate Change Regime,” to be launched soon by the Investment Centre and the GM.

The second event on “Climate Change Financing: Fresh Resources for Sustainable Land Management or re-labelling?” was organized with GTZ and CATIE. Alexander Müller, Assistant Director-General of FAO’s Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, noted that, in the Declaration emerging from the High-Level Conference on World Food Security convened at FAO from 3 to 5 June 2008, governments had acknowledged the need for smallholder farmers and fishers to participate in and benefit from financial mechanisms to support climate change adaptation, mitigation and technology development, transfer and dissemination. He highlighted the need to simultaneously address carbon sequestration, natural resource management, and sustainable livelihood development. To this aim, the Public-Private Investment Facility currently under development by the Centre and the GM, will seek to promote investments in the agricultural sector benefiting from existing or innovative climate change financial mechanisms. The Facility operational structure proposal will be reviewed by the next meeting on the Rome 2007 Initiative to be held in September 2008.