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Cuiaba, Mato Grosso, Brazil
April 1 -2, 2009
Brasilia, Brazil
September 2009
AMAZONIAN BASIN: Multi-Governmental Facilitation on Approach to REDD Projects and PES Markets
 In Brazil, the Communities & Markets Program, key Forest Trends staff, and Katoomba Rapid Response Team advisors helped to facilitate a coordinated multi-governmental approach to REDD and an international carbon offset transaction between the state of California and multiple states of the Brazilian Amazon. Rapid Response Team advisors also assisted to instigate and inform national-level policy change.
The XIV Global Katoomba Meeting
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| Entrance to the meeting (Photo: R. Vonada) |
The XIV Global Katoomba Meeting was held in Mato Grosso in partnership with the State Government. The meeting consisted of a public conference in Cuiaba and a private meeting in Pantanal. During panel presentations, the Governors of the Bolivian State of Santa Cruz, the Peruvian State of Loreto, and the Brazilian States of Mato Grosso, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, and Acre expressed their desire to reach an agreement to allow the State of California to offset its carbon emissions with conservation/ REDD efforts in the Amazon.
The leaders were collaborating to develop a unified position on REDD to present at the climate conference in Copenhagen in December. Throughout the conference in April, Forest Trends and Katoomba Group staff and network members advised the Governors on the design of new laws, and supported participants through the construction of the Cuiaba Declaration. As part of the rapid response, partners also lead a one-day seminar with the Secretariat of Environment for the State of Acre to present issues related to climate change, PES, and REDD.
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Xingu Indians (Photo: Rebecca Vonada) |
Following the meeting, The Katoomba Group was asked to provide consultation to The Amazon Sustainable Development Commission of the Brazilian Congress to review the draft guidelines for the PES-Carbon Project in Acre.
Results:
- Anthony Brunello, Deputy Secretary for Climate Change and Energy for the State of California, and the State Environmental Secretaries for Amazonas, Acre, Mato Grosso and Pará met to continue the work started in the Climate Summit held in California last November.
- Another major product of the conference was the Cuiaba Declaration which asks for the Brazilian Federal Government to reverse its opposition to REDD and to involve more stakeholders in the process of forming climate-change policy. The declaration was signed by more than 190 individuals and organizations representing farmers, indigenous communities, NGOs, and businesses and was presented to President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva.
- Members of Brazilian civil society organizations worked together to create the first draft of Social-Environmental Principles and Criteria for REDD+ to provide a safeguard for indigenous peoples and local communities. As of July 2010, these principles have undergone an extensive period of public consultation and a final version has been released.
Presentation to the Amazon Sustainable Development Commission of the Brazilian Congress
The Katoomba Group was invited in early 2009 to present to the Amazon Sustainable Development Commission of the Brazilian Congress. The Brazilian Congress is in the process of reviewing laws related to the establishment of a national PES program, and the hearing was designed to inform Congress members of PES experiences from other countries. On a panel with the Minister of Strategic Affairs, The Katoomba Group RRT through Beto Borges, Director Communities and Markets and Hannah Murray, Senior Manager for Tropical America Katoomba Group, presented an overview of the trends and experiences of PES programs in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ecuador. Approximately 50 people attended this event, which was recorded and provided to other Congress members in preparation for a subsequent symposium on PES. |
