Forests and climate change in the Asia-Pacific region

There is now global consensus that climate change i s a real and significant threat strongly related to anthropogenic causes. The implications are arguably even more relevant for the Asia-Pacific than other regions given its high population levels, lar ge numbers of poor and otherwise vulnerable people and the richness of biodiversity and ecology among its highly diverse countries. It is also a region with some of the greatest potential – both i n terms of carbon sequestration capacity and the human resources – to contribute to both mitigation and adaptation efforts. One of the key areas of focus on the current international climate change s tage is the role of forests. The significance of this single factor in mitigating, or potentially ha stening the process of climate change, is coming to be fully realized. In light of this, and the partic ularly close linkage between communities in the Asia-Pacific region and the forests upon which many depend, it is imperative that forests play a central role in efforts to manage or adapt to clima te change. The development of climate change-related policies, as well as the status and approaches to forest management in the context of climate change, vary widely throughout the region. While Asia and the Pacific have seen an increase of forest cov er, when disaggregated, it is clear that this is largely due to an ‘outlier’ effect – the ambitious reforestation policies of a small number of countries, namely China, India and Viet Nam. The re st of the region and Southeast Asia in particular, continue to experience high rates of de forestation. This has implications for potential mitigation and adaptation strategies, and particularly for regional and international efforts to develop mecha nisms, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) 1 to stem the drivers of deforestation and degradation. A number of non-Anne x I countries in the region, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, are being highly proacti ve despite having no obligation. They are undertaking emission reduction initiatives, refores tation and afforestation efforts and seeking stronger regional cooperation in tackling trans-bou ndary fire and pest management issues. Other countries have taken less initiative, in some cases due to limited forest area already under protected status, or preoccupation with more imminent post-co nflict concerns as in the case of Afghanistan or Timor-Leste. Capacity limitations critically restrict the degree to which countries can engage with climate change issues. There is a need to harmonize regiona l capacity levels and strengthen coordination and sharing of knowledge as well as mitigation and adaptation technologies. This will require financing. While this analysis indicates that there are such financing mechanisms, countries tend to perceive them as insufficient or unreliable. These factors influence the degrees to which countries integrate forestry and climate change policies with in broader development frameworks. Although forests have been recognized worldwide as a key part of the global response to climate change, many Asia-Pacific countries still h ave not integrated climate change strategies within national forest policies, laws and instituti ons. Forestry-related climate change initiatives ar e emerging nonetheless, and there is widespread evide nce that countries are defining their own, unique country-specific strategies to harness the p otential of forests for climate change mitigation and adaptation

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