News
Climate-Vulnerable Nepal to benefit from ambitious new initiative
8 Nov 2011
Kathmandu – A five-year program to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and threats to biodiversity in Nepal, was officially launched at a ceremony in Kathmandu today.
The Hariyo Ban program is a new investment in biodiversity conservation in Nepal, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The program will be implemented by a consortium comprised of four leading conservation organizations in Nepal – WWF, the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (...
Locals ‘can play key role in helping forests recover’
8 Nov 2011
Involving local groups has been a key factor in halting the loss of forest cover in the Asia-Pacific region, a UN study has concluded. The report found that low-cost projects offered communities an incentive to protect the habitats in return for job opportunities and income sources.
Such schemes also enhanced ecosystems, restored biodiversity and increase carbon storage, the authors added. The results were published at the start of the UN Asia-Pacific Forestry Week.
Despite the...
Norway funds for low carbon projects still stalled in Guyana
7 Nov 2011
Two years after Guyana and Norway signed a groundbreaking US$250 million agreement to protect Guyana’s forests, funds for “low carbon” projects that do not damage the rainforest are yet to flow here.
President Bharrat Jagdeo and Norway’s Minister of the Environment, Erik Solheim signed the Memorandum of Understanding on November 9, 2009 at Fairview, Region Nine. Oslo committed to pay up to US$250 million by 2015 for Guyana’s performance on limiting greenhouse gas emissions from...
South Korea: Turning bare land into a green nation
7 Nov 2011
A government-led reforestation program in South Korea has succeeded in producing a substantial increase in forest cover over the past 50 years, according to a new study released by the Center for International Forestry Research.
The study, Forest Transition in South Korea: Reality, Path and Drivers, showed forested land area has almost doubled in size since the mid-1950s, with 60 percent of the country now covered in forests. The increase in forest cover was mainly accomplished through a...
Eight more countries take big steps to address climate change
7 Nov 2011
A week of meetings among countries participating in the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) has resulted in more than $1 billion committed to solving the problems of climate change. Today, the Climate Investment Funds approved $ 1.08 billion in near-zero-interest loans and grants to support Bolivia, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Lao PDR, Mali, Mexico, and Nepal in their efforts toward arresting and adapting to climate change.
Under the CIF’s Forest Investment Program, two new investment...
Climate change negotiations: Durban a critical battleground
4 Nov 2011
The just ended United Nations Climate Change Conference in Panama barely made progress in resolving the thorniest issues, stalling negotiations to conclude a global agreement later this year in Durban, South Africa to save the planet from overheating.
The future of the Kyoto Protocol, the architecture of any future agreement, long term finance and sources of funding especially for the Green Climate Fund are some of the most fractious issues still outstanding.
Durban, South Africa...
Terra Global secures capital for REDD & L.U. carbon fund
4 Nov 2011
Terra Global Investment Management secures approval for up to $40 million of financing for the world’s first globally diverse community-based REDD and land-use carbon fund. The Terra Bella Fund’s investment strategy is to provide project finance capital to community-based forest and land-use carbon projects in developing countries. This approval for financing is provided by OPIC, as an anchor investment to an expected final fund size of $100 million.
The fund seeks to make...
Cambodia: Climate plan has Kingdom seeing REDD
3 Nov 2011
Source: eco-business.com -- The Forestry Administration has teamed up with the Cambodian Wildlife Conservation Society and Forest Carbon to develop a large-scale REDD project in eastern Cambodia, officials said yesterday.