Governors’ Climate Forum Annual Meeting 2011 to be held in central Kalimantan

Some 30 governors from various countries will gather at the Luwansa Hotel at

Some 30 governors from various countries will gather at the Luwansa Hotel at Palangkaraya, the capital of the central Kalimantan province in Indonesia, from September 20 to 22 to attend The Governors’ Climate Forum (GCF) Annual Meeting 2011.

The Annual Meeting is a unique opportunity for information exchange and progress on the GCF’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)-related objectives. The former California governor – and one of the initiators of GCF – Arnold Schwarzenegger, is scheduled to attend the event.

The meeting will include: a high-level session attended by ministers, governors, environment secretaries, and other governmental and inter-governmental organization representatives; key updates from member states and provinces on major GCF developments including the GCF REDD+ Knowledge Database and the GCF Fund; and facilitated breakout sessions on high priority topics including alignment of national and sub-national REDD policies and environmental and social safeguards, which will result in concrete action items for the GCF moving forward.

The Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF) is a unique sub-national collaboration between 15 states and provinces from the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mexico that seeks to integrate Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and other forest carbon activities into emerging greenhouse gas (GHG) compliance regimes in the United States and elsewhere. As such, the GCF represents an important component of broader efforts to mobilize and advance financing for REDD activities on a pay-for-performance basis; to provide recommendations for legal and regulatory design of GHG compliance markets to recognize REDD activities; to build capacity for such activities in large subnational jurisdictions in key tropical forest countries; and to develop institutions and programs for linking subnational REDD activities with ongoing national and international efforts.

The Governors’ Climate and Forests (GCF) Task Force originated in November 2008 with a meeting called the Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles. At the meeting, the governors of the states of California, Illinois, and Wisconsin signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work with the governors of six states in Indonesia and Brazil on reducing deforestation. A press release about the MoU from the office of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California at the time, stated that “This agreement is the first state-to-state, sub-national agreement focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and land degradation (REDD) programs.”

The island of Kalimantan itself counts eight large national parks, two among which are renowned orang utan reserves located in the province of Central Kalimantan. These are the Tanjung Puting National Park near Pangkalan Bun, and the Sebangau National Park, habitat to the largest community of orangutans in the wild.

How to get to Palangkaraya: please click Palangkaraya: Get There.

For more information on the Governors’ Climate Forum, visit the GCF official website: http://www.gcftaskforce.org/.

To reserve your place and register for the GCF Annual Meeting go to the registration page.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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