Paris (France), March 11th, 2010 - The ministries of Foreign and European Affairs and Sustainable Development accommodated an international conference on the role of forests in the fight against climate change at the conference’s ministerial center. The conference, opened by the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, brought together: Mr. Jean-Louis Borloo (Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development); Mr. Prince Mostaphar Zaher (Managing Director of the Afghan National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA)); Madam Louise Hands (Australian Ambassador for the Environment); President Emmanuel Bizot (Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC)); and Mr. Raymond Mbitikon (Executive Secretary of the COMIFAC). Fifty-four countries representative of the major forest basins (equatorial Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia) and of the principal donor countries for forests were joined together to implement the International Mechanism of Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), resulting from the Copenhagen Agreement.

Deforestation is a phenomenon of our major concerns. It especially affects the tropical forests and constitutes the second cause of global warming (nearly 20% of world emissions with the greenhouse gas effect) with major consequences, having a direct impact on the climate. For this purpose, reducing deforestation has become a major effort to save the planet. In Copenhagen, six countries, including Australia, USA, France, Norway, Great Britain and Japan, announced a commitment of $3.5 billion over three years for the REDD+ programs in developing countries. They were joined by Germany, Spain, Slovenia and the European Commission. Some 300 million dollars per annum will be brought in by the Global Environmental Funds (GEF). This commitment also included to put in place a medium-term financial mechanism with 100 billion dollars by 2020 (including 20% for the forest countries) for innovating finances. A piloting political group will be created and opened to all interested countries. Australia, Brazil, France, Norway, the Papouasie-New Guinea-News and the Democratic Republic of Congo already committed themselves to taking part in it, as the press release indicates. An office in charge of identifying the needs, the available resources and recording the existing actions should also be formed. France is ready to accommodate this office. Lastly, the countries agreed to meet together every two months for evaluation until the Cancun (Mexico) conference on the climate of Cancun next December.

This conference was preceded the day before (March 10th, 2010) with a dinner for the chiefs of delegation offered by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, at the Minister 37 Hostel, quai d'Orsay.  The speech toast was given by Bernard Kouchner during the dinner of the International Conference on Major Forest Basins

 The work completed at the time of this conference should continue during the second conference, foreseen to happen at the end of May in Oslo (Norway).

Please download the documents of the conference (in French).

Programme de la conférence ( fr) (PDF - 140 Ko) - Program (En) (PDF - 138 Ko)
PNG presentation ( fr) (PDF - 351 Ko) -PNG presentation ( en) (PDF - 349 Ko)
Astrium presentation spotimage (PDF - 1538 Ko)
Chiar summary 11 Mars (PDF - 28 Ko) -Résumé de la Présidence 11 Mars (PDF - 32 Ko)

Press

Discours du président français (Texte)

Video

Discours de M. le Président de la République de France (Vidéo):

La conférence en vidéo

Event in image

Official sources

Portail du Gouvernement

Ministère de l'Ecologie, de l'Energie, du Développement durable et de la mer. En charge des Technologies vertes et des Négociations sur le climat

Ministère des Affaires étrangères