4th GOFC-GOLD REDD Sourcebook development workshop:

“Responding to the UNFCCC COP 15 outcomes:
experiences, requirements, and actions to develop the next version of the GOFC-GOLD REDD Sourcebook”

Canadian Forest Service, Victoria, Canada
5-9 July 2010

Announcement and Program

Draft: 24-June-10

Organized by:

GOFC-GOLD Project Office and Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service

Center for Geoinformation, Wageningen University, Netherlands

General

At the beginning of the 21st century, there is a growing global consensus that the cumulative effects human activities are impacting the Earth’s ecosystems, atmosphere, and climate, and on their ability to support sustainable development. We need to improve our knowledge of biophysical and social systems and change policies and management practices throughout a broad range of human activities. A key, underpinning requirement to support these activities is to have systematic long-term observations of the forest and land cover characteristics and changes from local to global scales.

Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) is a coordinated international effort to ensure a continuous program of space-based and in situ forest and land cover observations to better understand global change, to support international assessments and environmental treaties and to contribute to natural resources management. GOFC-GOLD encourages countries to increase their ability to measure and track forest and land cover dynamics by promoting and supporting participation on implementation teams and in regional networks. Through these forums, data users and providers share information to improve understanding of user requirements and product quality. GOFC-GOLD is a panel of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), sponsored by FAO, UNESCO, WMO, ICSU and UNEP.

As a contribution to the UNFCCC process for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), GOFC-GOLD has organized three previous technical workshops:

• in March 2006 in Jena, Germany (Report)
• in April 2007 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (Report)
• in October 2008 in Jena (Report)

The activities have resulted in several updates of the GOFC-GOLD “Sourcebook of Methods and Procedures for Monitoring and Reporting Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals Caused By Deforestation, Gains and Losses of Carbon Stocks in Forests Remaining Forests, and Forestation”. Thirty-six international experts have contributed to the Sourcebook development to date. This group effort aims to provide further explanation, clarification, and methodologies in addition to IPCC Guidelines for reporting changes in forest carbon stocks at the national level, and to support REDD early actions and readiness mechanisms for building national REDD monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems. The Sourcebook version COP 15.1 was released for the UNFCCC COP 15 and is available for download (http://www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.de/redd/index.php). Given the outcomes of COP 15, the ongoing use of the Sourcebook by countries and other actors involved in REDD MRV, the starting discussions by the IPCC national GHG inventory task force, the developments of evolving technologies, and the request and motivations by several experts and organizations to further engage in Sourebook evolution, the GOFC-GOLD REDD working is organizing the 4th GOFC-GOLD REDD workshop on:

"Responding to the UNFCCC COP 15 outcomes: experiences, requirements, and actions to develop the next version of the GOFC-GOLD REDD Sourcebook"

Workshop objectives include:

• Present and discuss UNFCCC-related developments and evolving requirements (i.e. from IPCC GHG inventory meeting) for monitoring forest carbon changes in developing countries.
• Discuss key challenging issues and formulate technical and methodological recommendations to support building national-level REDD MRV capabilities, data collection and develop national implementation strategies. The aim is to expand and improve what is already provided by the current Sourcebook, to expand to new topics that have been brought up in the recent political discussions and to incorporate the technical experiences at the national level, with a particular focus on:
  • Synthesizing experiences from developing countries working on REDD MRV development with particular emphasis on lessons learned from applying the current Sourcebook.
  • increasing understanding of the drivers and processes of forest carbon stock change and safeguards, and related links to policy developments at the national level.
  • Assessing evolving technologies, including activities of the GEO Forest Carbon Tracking task and Google Earth.
  • Monitoring forest regrowth and degradation/changes in remaining forest areas to address issues related to sustainable forest management, forest conservation, and increase in forest carbon stocks.
  • Methods and experiences on the accuracy assessments for forest area and area change.
  • Management of information flows and building data infrastructures for estimation, reporting and uncertainty analysis and management on the national level
• Develop an action plan for Sourcebook updating. All current Sourcebook authors and new experts will be invited and asked to participate in the next round of Sourcebook updates.
• Outline developments and discuss contributions of GOFC-GOLD to related international activities and processes (UNFCCC, national and regional activities, IPCC, UN-REDD, GEO).
• Discuss the implications for global forest monitoring and broader GOFC-GOLD objectives.

Local host and venue

The meeting is hosted by Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service in Victoria, BC, Canada and co-organized with Wageningen University and the GOFC-GOLD Project Office Edmonton, Canada.

Pacific Forestry Centre
506 West Burnside Road
Victoria, BC, V8Z 1M5, Canada
Tel: +1-250-363-0600

Participants

The list of invitees consists of the following groups:

• GOFC-GOLD Executive Committee, REDD working group and Sourcebook authors
• GOFC_GOLD Land Cover implementation team members
• Representatives from developing countries and GOFC-GOLD Regional Networks
• Members from international bodies including IPCC, FAO, UN-REDD, GEO, Worldbank FCPF etc.
• International forest monitoring monitoring experts

Travel and Accommodation

The workshop will be held at the Pacific Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service at Victoria, Canada.

A block of 40 rooms has been secured at the Inn at Laurel Point Hotel in Victoria (www.laurelpoint.com). The block and the special price will remain reserved until 23 June. Attached is the form that each individual must use to make their reservation. The form is self explanatory and includes the hotel address and contact information. Please complete this form and send by fax or email toreservations@laurelpoint.com. If you have any questions please contact Michael Brady.

Other venue city information can be found at:http://www.tourismvictoria.com/

Local transport: in previous meetings in Victoria it has been proven useful for participants to rent cars for local transport and to get from the hotel to the venue and back. There is rental car pick up at the airport, i.e. Budget Rent-A-Car, National, and Avis (all within the airport). Learning from previous experiences and because we do not have the funds to rent a bus for all participants, we suggest that a few of us rent cars or minivans and then arrange to take all participants to the venue each day. If participants are able and willing to rent cars (or team up with others) please let us know so we can help ensure that everyone has transport. Car rental is not too expensive and comparable to using taxis for the week.

An option for travel between the airport and downtown:
 http://www.victoriaairportshuttle.com/

Sponsors