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POSTED: Wednesday 10 June 2009

ONLINE BACKGROUND BRIEFING: Deforestation and climate change

Wed 10 June at 3pm AEST online

BRIEFING DETAILS:
DATE: Wednesday 10 June 2009
START TIME: 3pm AEST
DURATION: 30 min
VENUE: Online

The second largest source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions in the world comes from land use. In turn, the majority of these emissions come from deforestation and the degradation of forests and peatlands in developing nations. Despite this, a mechanism to reduce deforestation in developing nations was left out of the Kyoto Protocol.

With increased urgency surrounding climate change, actions are underway to remedy this exclusion. At the climate change talks in Bonn (Germany), negotiators are debating whether to allow high emitters to buy carbon credits from developing countries who preserve their forests (the so-called “REDD” scheme - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries).

With only months until COP15 in Copenhagen, agreement on exactly how and when REDD should be included is yet to be reached. What difference will REDD or no REDD make to Australia? How will land use change be counted in the next commitment period? Will Australia be able to again benefit from a clause within the Kyoto Protocol that enabled us to offset our carbon emissions by clearing less land?

Join this background briefing with experts in Bonn to find out more about the negotiations on land use, implications for climate change and what they mean for Australia.

For further information, please contact the AusSMC on 08 8207 7415 or email us

See a recording of the full presentation by clicking here (WebEx)

SPEAKERS:

	Mr Ralph Ashton, Visiting Scholar, Columbia University and Senior Policy Fellow, The Heinz Center, Washington DC Bio note | Listen (mp3)
	Ms Fiona McKenzie, Policy Advisor, Terrestrial Carbon Group, Sydney Bio note | Listen (mp3)

Listen to the Q and A session

BIOS:


Fiona McKenzie: Having grown up on a farm in north western New South Wales, Fiona seeks to discover new approaches to agriculture and natural resources management where both can prosper. Currently, Fiona is a consultant to the Terrestrial Carbon Group, an international group of eminent scientists and economists, where she advises on strategic direction, public profile and emerging policy and scientific issues. In conjunction, she is undertaking a PhD at the University of Sydney, exploring ways to foster innovation in agriculture that improves the natural resource base on which farming depends. For the past three years she has worked as a Policy Analyst with the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, where she has been responsible for turning ideas and scientific knowledge into concrete policy solutions and liaising with government, media, and the general public. Previously, she worked for the New South Wales Government, in the former Healthy Rivers Commission, the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources and the Ministry for Science and Medical Research.


Ralph Ashton is Program Director of the Terrestrial Carbon Group project, which he convened in 2007 while Leader of the Climate Change Program at the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists in Sydney. Previously he coordinated WWF's global response to the Indian Ocean earthquakes and tsunami and then co-founded its Humanitarian Partnerships Program, which he ran from Banda Aceh. He contributed to WWF-Indonesia's "Green Reconstruction Policy Guidelines for Aceh"; managed a regional partnership with American Red Cross; and sought and established a regional collaboration with World Vision. Ralph co-authored "A Blueprint for the Forest Industry and Vegetation Management in Tasmania" - a new policy for forest and grassland management in Tasmania, one of Australia's most controversial environmental issues. He is editor of and contributor to "Tarkine", a photographic book published in 2004 to raise awareness of the plight of this unique Tasmanian rainforest wilderness. A native of Papua New Guinea, he studied in Australia and Germany. During 2008, he was a Visiting Fellow in the Climate and Energy Program at The Australian National University, and in 2009 is a Visiting Scholar in the Center for Environment, Economy, and Society at Columbia University.