Among the three largest tropical rainforests globally, only the Congo Basin has remained a strong net carbon sink, absorbing about 0.61 GtCO2e each year (approximately equivalent to Canada’s total GHG emissions annually).  

Although relatively undisturbed compared to other tropical forests, the Congo Basin is at significant risk today, with deforestation and forest degradation increasing quickly. These trends call for protective measures.

Congo Basin countries need to strike a balance between economic growth and natural resource conservation. Additionally, governance and public debt challenges hinder the implementation of regulations or green investments that could protect these forests. 

While several efforts to scale up green finance for forest conservation exist, finance has been largely insufficient to date and does not reflect the ecosystem and climate services it provides. 

Key messages   

This discussion paper, Increasing International Finance Flow to Sustain the Congo Basin’s Forests, proposes six strategies to mobilize public and private finance for sustainable development and forest conservation tailored to the Congo Basin’s characteristics, needs, and priorities:

1. Scaling public finance: Establishing a sustainable forest trust for the Congo Basin. 
2. Increasing fiscal space in Congo Basin countries: Assigning value to the Congo Basin’s natural assets to encourage long-term investments. 
3. Stimulating investments in conservation: Issuing a forest bond linked to new ecosystem payments. 
4. De-risking private investment: Enhancing the use of guarantees in the context of climate finance and green growth. 
5. Investing in pipeline development: Creating an investment and technical assistance facility for environmental markets. 
6. Attracting foreign direct investment: Establishing environmental markets investment promotion agencies in the countries of the Congo Basin. 

Climate Focus developed this discussion paper in collaboration with WWF and the Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC).  

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The World Economic Forum and McKinsey have published this comprehensive outline of how companies can engage in the emerging voluntary biodiversity credits industry with integrity.

The post Biodiversity Credits: A Guide to Support Early Use with High Integrity appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Adopting a landscape approach to investing in peatlands

This paper details the importance of strategically investing in the conservation and restoration of peatlands, illuminating the wide-ranging positive impacts of such investments for climate, nature, local communities and investors.

 

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Close to 90 percent of forest loss is associated with expansion of agriculture, resulting in an urgent need for better solutions to identify and help manage the risk of forest loss associated with commodity supply chains. Traceability and transparency are increasingly called on to help halt and reverse forest loss.

The Traceability and Transparency in Supply Chains for Agricultural and Forest Commodities Report shows that despite the rapid progress seen to date in developing traceability and transparency solutions, key challenges and data gaps remain. It also examines what is needed to ensure that initiatives, tools and policies are set up for success.

The report aims to inform collaborative action among governments, the private sector, and civil society organizations that are working toward enhancing traceability and transparency. It focuses on seven commodities: cattle, palm oil, soy, cocoa, timber, coffee, and rubber, but also offers insights applicable to other commodities.

Key Findings

• Independent verification is necessary for traceability systems to be credible. Definitions need to be applied consistently.
• Governments should provide an adequately resourced policy environment that facilitates traceability and transparency within the challenges of complex supply chains. Investments are rarely one-off since continued funding is usually needed. Approaches to traceability and transparency must consider the needs of smallholders to be effective.
• Data gaps remain, especially where there is a large smallholder component, but equally important is ensuring that data are accessible and usable. Investments are needed to help close these gaps.
• Despite gaps, there is enough existing data and information for supply chain actors to take meaningful steps toward assessing the risk of forest loss in supply chains, and to prioritize areas for action.

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About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About this session

Well managed carbon markets can provide opportunities for nature, communities and the economy. However, the introduction and implementation of carbon credit schemes also comes with serious risks: people with insecure tenure rights risk being excluded from benefit sharing and decision making and could even being forced off their land.

This session discussed the risks of carbon markets to local communities without tenure rights, as well as ways to address them and allow community members to become active stakeholders in carbon markets and reap the benefits.

Download white paper

Safeguards for Carbon Markets – Prioritizing Local Communities’ Tenure Rights

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About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About this session

The session showcased the CompensACTION initiative, which was launched under the German G7 presidency in 2022 and aims to give agricultural producers adequate compensation for their work. It especially seeks to help smallholders in developing countries earn a living income by selling their produce and being paid for the ecosystem services they provide.

The session presents evidence from pilot projects, share experiences from partners on payment for ecosystem services schemes, and showcase opportunities for new partnerships. Experts covered financing and incentives for low emissions development. The session also addressed challenges faced by people with disabilities in project implementation and highlighted the importance of inclusivity and support for vulnerable groups.

Resources

• Rethinking inorganic fertiliser subsidies;
• Compensating farmers for ecosystem services

The post CompensACTION: Mobilizing finance through innovative payment for ecosystem services schemes appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilized action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About this session

This session explored strategies for meeting the challenges posed by the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products to “avoid that the listed products Europeans buy, use and consume contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and globally”.

Panelists discussed how to put smallholder farmers, including women and Indigenous Peoples, at the center of this transition. Learn about key actions that must be taken to comply with the new regulations, potential challenges and stumbling blocks that may be specific to Africa’s context, and mechanisms or levers to engage with smallholder farmers.

The post Putting smallholders at the center of deforestation-free value chains in Africa appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) defines carbon markets as trading systems in which carbon credits are sold and bought. Companies or individuals can use carbon markets to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits from entities that remove or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

One tradable carbon credit equals one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas reduced, sequestered or avoided. When a credit is used to reduce, sequester, or avoid emissions, it becomes an offset and is no longer tradable.

The challenge

While carbon markets have the potential to reduce emissions and support a low-carbon transition, they face criticism for issues like questionable carbon offset projects, carbon leakage, market manipulation, transparency, pricing, and the potential impact on community land tenure rights. As global demand for voluntary carbon credits continues to grow, there is an urgent need to address these risks and protect the rights of local communities.

Securing Land Tenure in Carbon Markets: TMG’s efforts

TMG Research, at the Africa Climate Summit, emphasized the critical importance of safeguarding land tenure rights in carbon markets, particularly for women and in regions like Africa where land rights are at risk.

TMG is committed to tackling the risks that carbon markets pose to communities lacking tenure rights and aims to foster their active engagement in these markets.In this white paper, we explore prominent risks and strategies to empower communities as active participants in carbon markets. We aim to help them contribute to market management and reap benefits. This is achieved through four reflections:

1. Land Tenure and Carbon Markets: Insecure land tenure in Africa risks rural livelihoods, carbon projects lack safeguards, impacting communities.
2. Environmental Challenges in Carbon Offsets: Afforestation can harm biodiversity and ecosystems, carbon offset projects have concerns like leakage and permanence.
3. Overstated Carbon Reductions in Forest Offsets: Forest offset projects exaggerate carbon savings, the credibility of carbon credits is in question.
4. Questioning Carbon Credits: Carbon credits’ impact on emissions reduction is debated; Concerns about transparency and moral licensing; A reassessment of carbon market frameworks is needed to protect land rights and ensure moral legitimacy.

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About the FOLUR Annual Meeting

The FOLUR Impact Program brought together over 100 country projects and core partners in São Paulo, Brazil, to discuss topics surrounding land restoration and sustainable value chain implementation over the course of four days.

In this video, the GLF’s Eden Flaherty sits down with Hannah Simmons, Founder and CEO, Ecosystem Regeneration Associates.

The post Hannah Simmons at FOLUR Partner Meeting Brazil appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

• PES Benefits for Farmers: Boosts income diversification, encourages sustainable practices, and supports climate action.
• CompensACTION Initiative Objectives: Enhance farmer incomes, promote sustainable farming, provide co-benefits, diversify funding, and attract climate finance.
• Levers for Scaling: Innovate PES for affordability, blend public-private finance, and enable implementation readiness.
• G7 Leadership: Lead PES efforts to improve livelihoods, ensure food security, and address climate goals while promoting policy reforms and research.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) to smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can increase and diversify farmers’ income while also incentivizing practices for ecosystem services, including climate change mitigation and adaptation. The world’s 480 million smallholder farmers produce one third of the world’s food supply on one quarter of global agricultural area and often earn less than USD 1.25/day. Yet schemes for paying smallholder farmers in LMICs for ecosystem services have been limited.

The CompensACTION Initiative seeks to promote PES innovation at large scales to increase the incomes of smallholder farmers in LMICs while incentivizing climate action and environmental outcomes. The Initiative has five objectives:

1. Increase and diversify the incomes of smallholder men and women farmers, while also supporting long-term investment by farmers.
2. Incentivize practices for sustainable farming practices that lead to resilient and low-emission food systems, as well as other ecosystem services on- and off-farm.
3. Deliver co-benefits with compensation mechanisms such as improved credit ratings and easy access to finance for farmers.
4. Diversify financial instruments and increase public and private funding in addition to climate finance.
5. Attract international climate finance for adaptation and mitigation action in the agricultural sector that leads to improved ecosystem services maintenance.

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