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Intervention by the Global Forest Coalition at SBSTTA-17

Posted 15th October 2013 in News, Supporting Community Conservation, Forests and Climate Change

We appreciate Valerie Hickey’s remarks about mainstreaming biodiversity, including in the process to develop a truly sustainable post-2015 development agenda. As core member of the Women’s Major Group the Global Forest Coalition is very much involved in this process and we would like to applaud governments and institutions, including the Secretariat that have successfully highlighted the importance of biodiversity in this process. But I would like to highlight a related challenge, which is to address policy incoherences, including deliberate policy …


GFC’s intervention during REDD+ discussion at CBD’s COP11

Posted 10th October 2012 in News, Supporting Community Conservation, Forests and Climate Change

GFC: Thank you Madam chairperson for allowing me this opportunity to speak.

We share concerns that REDD+ might not necessarily contribute to biodiversity and that the discussion should focus on preventing potential negative impacts of REDD+ on biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women. However, from an international legal point of view, we are well aware that any recommendations of this Convention to the UNFCCC can only be in the form of non-binding advice. We also share the concerns highlighted by the delegate of Bolivia and note that the REDD+ discussions are taking place in an FCCC working group that has not yet concluded its work, so the advice is rather premature, especially in the light of the current dire state the FCCC negotiations, which also has significant impacts as far as the expectations for financial support for REDD are concerned. It is highly unlikely that REDD+ will end up to be the gold-spinner it was originally assumed to be.

In that light we are highly surprised by the unbalanced approach that has been taken towards the implementation of these decisions of the 10th COP of the CBD, and the implementation of the decisions that relate to forest policy in general. The draft decision on forest ecosystems has even been deleted from the package of draft decisions, and under agenda item 5.2 we only find a bracketed decision noting that the very important decisions of COP10 could not be implemented due to lack of funding. We see this as an indicator that the question of which COP decisions are being implemented and which not is more and more dependent on the willingness of donor countries and private sector donors to provide voluntary contributions, thus giving a disproportionate influence of these donors over biodiversity policy making.

We fully support the observation by Brazil that forest policy is much more than REDD+, and we thus call upon countries to ensure sufficient financial resources for forest policy in general, including the expanded program of work on forest biodiversity of the CBD itself, and we hope this will be discussed on Thursday, when the CBD is expected to discuss its own forest work program. It is clear the secretariat needs sufficient core budget to be able to implement all COP decisions in a balanced manner, including in the field of forests, where we feel that implementation of the decisions of COP9 and COP10, including the decision to contribute to the elaboration of appropriate forest definition that excludes monoculture tree plantations, should be a first priority of the CBD. Synergy between conventions is highly important, but this requires integrated approach to the implementation of the CBDs expanded program of work on forest biodiversity and any other forest-related policies rather than providing non-binding advice to non-binding safeguards.

Lastly, in the interest of time we would also like to briefly address agenda item 11.2 and express our support to the position of the CBD Alliance, which calls on Parties to Reaffirm and strengthen the de facto moratorium in 2010 by NOT permitting open-air geoeongineering experiments that impact biodiversity; and affirm that there is currently no transparent, global and effective regulatory structure for oversight of geoengineering activities, and the CBD is the appropriate body to oversee governance of geoengineering.

Thank you.

Simone Lovera
executive director
Global Forest Coalition


Women’s Caucus Opening Statement at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Posted 9th October 2012 in News, Supporting Community Conservation

My Name is Archana Godbole of AERF India
Speaking on behalf of the women’s caucus

We welcome the new CBD Executive secretary and we look forward to working together to ensure that the CBD continues to champion gender equality and women’s rights in its policies and implementation efforts.
In the last twenty years gender equality and women’s rights have been and continue to be recognized as critical crosscutting issues at the CBD which has resulted in an extraordinary array of text. With this text Parties are in a unique position to pursue transformative implementation where women are recognized as crucial stakeholders and agents of change.
Words on paper are crucial, but healthy ecosystems and gender equality will only become a lived reality when full implementation is enforced. Women are watching and ready to support ambitious goals and implementation and as a caucus we would like to see the following five points integrated into the negotiations and outcomes:
• Recognize and incorporate women’s traditional knowledge,
• Integrate the gender dimension in social, environmental, and cultural indicators,
• Ensure capacity building for women in all program areas as a means to secure the full and effective participation of women,
• Strengthen discussions and implementation of the gender dimension in the second objective of the Convention on sustainable use,
• Commit to long term actions on gender equality and women’s rights by the CBD Secretariat and Parties

Women around the world- including farmers, fisher women, forest dwellers and managers, scientists, indigenous women, and change makers-recognize that none of these objectives will become a reality unless adequate financial resources are provided. The mechanism for these financial resources must be transparent, predictable and gender responsive.

Thank you very much

Women’s Caucus Opening Statement at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Hyderabad, India