Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is one of the most cost-effective opportunities for reducing emissions in the short-term, given that deforestation accounts for a large percentage of global emissions, said Australia’s Department of Climate Change.

That is why Australia is taking a leading role in the International Forest Carbon Initiative, focused on developing practical demonstration activities in the Pacific region, namely in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. 

By demonstrating that forests can be monitored effectively through advanced remote sensing, Australia will show that there can be certainty in measuring emission reductions from avoided deforestation activities, the Department said. Activities include:

• directly assisting developing countries, in particular Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, to develop their own national forest carbon accounting systems; and
• partnering with a consortium led by the Clinton Climate Initiative to use Australia’s National Carbon Accounting System as a platform for a global forest carbon monitoring system.

Practical demonstration activities will also be undertaken, to show how reducing emission from deforestation can be included in a future international climate change framework. This includes:

• trialling a range of approaches, particularly in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, to demonstrate how investment in avoided deforestation can achieve emission reductions while providing forest-dependent communities with livelihoods and promoting sustainable resource management; and
• assisting with the development of necessary underpinnings for sustainable forest management, governance, law enforcement and regulatory frameworks in these countries.  

Australia will also play a key role in international climate change forums and in working with other countries to promote the development of market-based approaches to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, the Department said. Already the nation is supporting the World Bank in the development and implementation of its Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and related initiatives.

Global deforestation of about 13 million hectares per year results in approximately 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Momentum has been building for increased international action to address emissions from deforestation. At the UN climate change negotiations in Bali in December 2007, it was agreed for the first time that action on deforestation in developing countries should be part of a future response to climate change.