Conference: REDD+: Technical, Socio-Economic, and Political Dimensions

Summary

This version of the annual ELTI-PRORENA conference explores the technical, socioeconomic, and political dimensions of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation ‘Plus’). If designed and implemented correctly, REDD+ has the potential to generate a valuable stream of funding for initiatives that will conserve and restore important tracts of tropical forests. Alternatively, if the mechanism fails to adequately address potential pitfalls, REDD+ could compromise local livelihoods, affect traditional uses of forests, and enhance or catalyze corruption, among other problems.

Panama has been actively engaged in international negotiations and debates regarding REDD+ and government officials, indigenous communities, NGOs, and organizations of farmers, cattle ranchers, loggers and other agents of land transformation have begun to participate in REDD+ discussions and/or trainings. Considering that REDD+ activities will likely be adopted by the UNFCCC in 2011 at COP-17 in South Africa, the time is ideal to host a national-level conference that addresses some of the key issues surrounding REDD+ in Panama and many other countries actively engaged in REDD+ preparations in the neotropics.

Objectives

Provide a forum for REDD+ related actors in Panama to advance their understanding of the technical, governance, and socio-economic dimensions of REDD+.
Create a space for dialogue and exchange that will inform the effective design and development of a REDD+ mechanism in Panama.

PANEL 1. REDD+: the Global Scheme and Panama

Catherine Potvin, McGill University/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
ANAM, To Be Designated

PANEL 2. Technical Dimensions of REDD+

Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Joseph Mascaro, Carnegie Institution for Science/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Lucio Pedroni, Carbon Decisions International

PANEL 3. Forest Governance and REDD+

Benjamin Cashore, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Bastiaan Louman, Tropical Agronomic Center for Research and Teaching (CATIE)
Alexis Alvarado, Dobbo Yala Foundation

PANEL 4. Socioeconomic Dimensions of REDD+

Marina Campos, Rainforest Foundation
Estebancio Castro, International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests
Betanio Chiquidama, National Coordination of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (COONAPIP)
Rhett Butler, Mongabay.com

PANEL 5. REDD+: Beyond Avoided Deforestation

Celia Harvey, Conservation International
Florencia Montagnini, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

PANEL 6. REDD+ in Action

Gabriel Labbate, United Nations Environment Programme
Mariana Pavan, Institute for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of Amazonas (IDESAM)
Lucio Pedroni, Carbon Decisions International
Tiffany Potter, Streamline Consulting Group