Logo Tropentag

Tropentag, September 17 - 19, 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic

"Bridging the gap between increasing knowledge and decreasing resources"


Supporting the Global Implementation of REDD and FLEGT

Prem Raj Neupane, Michael Köhl, Daniel Plugge

University of Hamburg, Inst. for World Forestry, Germany


Abstract


Despite the numerous forest policy and forest management initiatives on local, regional and global level, deforestation, forest degradation and illegal logging have been continuing at an alarming rate. To address this, an initiative of the EU called “Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade” (FLEGT) and United Nations' “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries” (REDD) are currently designed and put into action. These two initiatives comprised of overlapping objectives, closely linked working issues, identical stakeholders and share a common ultimate target. Together with numerous other initiatives, such as certification schemes (FSC, PEFC) or guidelines for sustainable tropical forest management (ITTO, CBD), this situation calls for the harmonisation of their aims and objectives and the elaboration of their synergies. Therefore, research is needed to analyse the interactions between the international regimes at national and international level.

In response, the European Forest Institute (EFI) established a Project Centre- Supporting the Global Implementation of REDD and FLEGT (SURF). The initiative aims at research, development, demonstration and dissemination (RDD&D) in contemporary forestry issues (such as sustainable forest management, prevention of illegal logging and trade in illegal timber) and climate change issues, as well as foresight and knowledge transfer. These researches contribute to develop science based approaches of measurement, reporting and validation, design of REDD and FLEGT mechanisms, and certification in a multi-disciplinary environment. The Center provides an information platform for its partners, EFI Member Countries, and member organisations; and provides an interface between the SURF user and research communities.

In the next five years (2014-2018), SURF activities are envisaged to contribute significantly to an improved conceptual and methodological integration of REDD and FLEGT in the broader context of sustainable development, and place forests high on the international research and policy agendas, especially in relation to environment, economy, agriculture, energy and sustainable landscapes.

The proposed presentation is intended to give an overview of the Project Center. We believe, such a presentation will be of high value to the Tropentag 2014 audience as the Center directly responses to the overall conference theme of “Bridging the gap between increasing knowledge and decreasing resources”.


Keywords: Climate change, FLEGT, project centre, REDD, SURF, sustainable forest management


Contact Address: Prem Raj Neupane, University of Hamburg, Institute for World Forestry, EFI - Project Center SURF, Leuschner Str. 91, 21031 Hamburg, Germany, e-mail: neuprem@gmail.com


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