Forest Carbon Asia
Bangkok Climate Change Talks
Photo by UN Climate Change
Photo by Unna Chokkalingam
Photo by Unna Chokkalingam
Photo by Anuradha Vanniarachchy
Numerous schemes are under way to protect forests and their carbon stocks as a way to help mitigate climate change. The most prominent one is the international REDD+ mechanism under negotiation at the UN Climate Change discussions whereby developed countries are to pay developing countries for reducing their forest-related CO2 emissions and enhancing their forest carbon stocks. Other schemes include mechanisms under the international Kyoto Protocol, current and evolving national and sub-national initiatives across the globe, and voluntary markets for forest carbon conserved on specific project sites.
History
The Forest Carbon Asia (FCA) Knowledge Management Platform was launched in end April 2011 to provide open, up-to-date, objective and insightful information and analysis on the resources, policies, players and issues related to climate change mitigation via forest carbon sequestration and storage across the Asian region.
Information needs included news about latest policy and technical developments, useful resources and links, friendly summaries of key issues and developments, different viewpoints and experiences, choice of methods and options, perceptive analysis, and experiences from the ground and across the region. And all of this information needed to be delivered to the national stakeholders involved in and/or affected by the proposed REDD+/forest carbon mechanism (from governments, to NGOs, communities, the private sector) to help them make informed choices and use the evolving mechanisms to effectively meet national forestry sector goals, biodiversity and local community needs.
FCA evolved to fill these needs. Since its launch, the FCA Platform has attracted much interest and enthusiasm across the region and abroad. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Our readership numbers are high with 50% originating from the Asian region and 50% from developed countries across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. While FCA has had a constant regular flow of readers using its regularly-updated news and resource sections; release of new FCA articles, publications or theme pages has created large spikes in readership indicating the demand for and relevance of such information. Now we aim to develop the platform to its full potential as envisioned to effectively serve the needs of the region.
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Our new legal identity
Our Board of Trustees brings with it a diversity of knowledge, expertise and experience to guide and support the development of Forest Carbon Asia to its full potential as envisioned. With our headquarters in Manila, Philippines, we will work through a network of members and partners to assess and report on developments in the region.
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We are happy to announce our new legal identity − Forest Carbon Asia (FCA) was registered as a non-stock and non-profit association (ForestCarbon Asia Inc.) with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines in December 2011. FCA supports REDD+ readiness and is committed to ensuring that the forest and land resources of Asia are managed sustainably for the benefit of the climate, biodiversity, indigenous peoples and local communities of Asia.
Features of the Platform
The FCA Knowledge Management Platform seeks to bridge the range of initiatives, stakeholder groups, aspects and issues surrounding forest-related mitigation. The platform serves as an information and resource hub for Forest Carbon in Asia − providing current news and views from the media, a categorized library of relevant publications, directories of forest carbon players and activities, vacancy and event announcements, archives and links to other useful resources for convenient reference and networking.
A main feature of the platform will be individual country portals linked to player, program and project pages that will provide a dynamic overview of the resources, policies, players and evolving REDD+ landscape in each country.
High-quality feature articles will delve into the key issues and current issues; and cover important events, policies, players and developments. They will combine facts and numbers with human voices and share the stories from the ground.
A series of dynamic updated theme pages maintained by experts will summarise and update you on key REDD-related topics such as Global policy developments, Markets and financing, Quality standards, Biodiversity benefits and safeguards.
Forest Carbon Asia’s briefs and reports provide easy-to-digest updates, synopses and reviews of forest carbon issues pertinent to Asia, fill gaps and extract lessons from ongoing activities and developments.
The Platform will facilitate networking, communication and exchange across the region and beyond in a variety of ways such as allowing users to submit and share information and experiences from the ground, stimulating discussions through various media and facilitating connections between different forest carbon players.
Our Audience
Photo by Unna Chokkalingam Photo by GIZ CliPAD
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The information and analysis is relevant for the range of actors engaged in and affected by REDD+ and other forest carbon activities in Asia, ranging from the government to private sector, communities and NGOs. Examples: Lessons on strategy and implementation from other countries for national policy makers and donor programs, country overviews and policy updates for investors and project developers, information on potential REDD benefits and safeguards for local communities, Asia situation overview for international agencies, market information for national REDD+ initiatives, information on biodiversity risks and safeguards for environmental NGOs.