It’s been 12 months since the Bali Action Plan endorsed, in principle, the inclusion of reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in the post-Kyoto climate regime. The Action Plan, which came out of the UNFCCC COP13 in Bali, set in motion a two-year process of consultation, demonstration and preparation, with the final decisions about the global architecture of REDD scheduled for COP15 in Copenhagen, December 2009.

The COP14 in Poznan, Poland, marks the halfway point in this process. For CIFOR, integration of REDD into a global climate agreement is both daunting and exciting. While we must move quickly to capitalise on the opportunities presented by REDD to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve biodiversity and improve rural livelihoods, there are huge challenges that must first be overcome. Foremost is the challenge of combining effectiveness and efficiency with fairness and equity.

Our focus at CIFOR is on getting REDD right. To this end, CIFOR, in conjunction with other members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), will host Forest Day 2, on Saturday, 6 December, at Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM), in Poznan. Following the success of the first Forest Day in Bali during COP13, the event will provide a platform for discussion among all forest stakeholders – from indigenous communities to global policy makers – and feed the results into the negotiation process on the road to Copenhagen.

But while we’re looking ahead to what could well become a defining moment for the future of forests, let me also take a moment to commend my staff and colleagues on what has been a very successful year, a year in which we have aligned CIFOR’s work with the new challenges and opportunities for forest research in the 21st Century .

In May, our Board of Trustees approved CIFOR’s new strategy. At our recent Annual Meeting in Bogor, staff and associates from around the world worked together to align our operations to the strategy. By organising our planning around six priority “research domains”, we have pulled together strands of existing research from across our programmes to develop robust, interdisciplinary approaches to some of the toughest problems confronting forests and forest communities today.

Finally, I would like to highlight the achievements of Daniel Tiveau, CIFOR’s Regional Coordinator for West Africa. The Government of Burkina Faso recently awarded Daniel the Burkinabé Order of Merit. Signed by Blaise Compaoré, the President of Burkina Faso, the prestigious award is in recognition of Daniel’s contribution to the nation in the area of forest research and management. Congratulations to Daniel and to all his colleagues in Burkina Faso.

I hope you find this edition of CIFOR News enjoyable and informative, and I look forward to seeing you in Poznan.

Frances Seymour
Director General