Notification 2011-018

Dear Madam/Sir, With reference to Decision X/33 on biodiversity and climate change, I am pleased to invite you to send your views, experiences and expectations with regards to relevant safeguards in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD-plus) to the Secretariat. Furthermore, I invite you to identify possible indicators to assess the contribution of REDD-plus to achieving the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as to submit your views on potential mechanisms to monitor impacts from REDD-plus and other ecosystem based approaches for climate change mitigation measures on biodiversity. Please submit relevant information to the CBD Secretariat by email, as a word document attachment to secretariat@cbd.int, at your earliest convenience, but no later than 30 April 2011. In submitting your views, I invite you to make use of the attached questionnaire. At its tenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the CBD, in decision X/33, requested the Executive Secretary with regards to REDD-plus to 'Provide advice, for approval by the Conference of the Parties at its eleventh meeting, including on the application of relevant safeguards for biodiversity, without pre-empting any future decisions taken under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, based on effective consultation with Parties and their views, and with the participation of indigenous and local communities, so that actions are consistent with the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and avoid negative impacts on and enhance benefits for biodiversity. In the same decision, COP 10 also requested the Executive Secretary to 'With effective consultation with Parties and based on their views and in collaboration with the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, identify possible indicators to assess the contribution of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries to achieving the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and assess potential mechanisms to monitor impacts on biodiversity from these and other ecosystem-based approaches for climate change mitigation measures, without pre-empting any future decisions taken under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and to report on progress to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at a meeting prior to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties. Pursuant to decision X/33, the CBD Secretariat will convene a series of regional consultation and capacity building workshops on REDD-plus, including on relevant safeguards. The first workshop in this series, for Asia and the Pacific, will be held in Singapore City in March 2011 (cf. notification 2010-218). It will be followed by regional workshops for other relevant regions in this context, notably Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. Separate notifications soliciting nominations of country-designated technical experts to participate in these workshops will be sent to you in due course. The views received by 30 April 2011 on the basis of this notification will be compiled by the Secretariat and will be made available to Parties as soon as possible, to enable Parties to draw on the results in relevant fora. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points